Health of Kharrubi and Musavi worsens
Both are under house arrest since 2011 for supporting the "Green Wave" movement and challenging the 2009 election results. Human rights groups have called for their release, which Rohani had promised during his election campaign, but which has been opposed by hard-liners.
Tehran (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The health of two Iranian leaders under house arrest has worsened, this according to their families.
Both played a leading role in the ‘Green Wave’, a pro-reform movement suppressed in 2009 by then President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Mir Hossein Musavi, 75, is suffering from irregular blood pressure and dizziness and is unable to walk without assistance. Mehdi Kharrubi, 79, was hospitalised this week due to a heart attack.
On Monday, Kharrubi's son, Mohammad Taghi, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that his father's health problems had been caused by his detention.
In March, in an interview, he had slammed the conditions of imprisonment in which his father was being held.
Karrubi, along with Musavi and Musavi's wife, Zahra Rahnavard, were placed under house arrest in February 2011 for challenging the establishment over the disputed 2009 presidential vote, highlighting human rights abuses, and expressing support for the Green Wave. None of the three have been formally charged.
Meanwhile, Iranian media cannot mention the issue or the Green Wave movement, which was violently repressed at the time, and is still labelled as subversive.
For years, rights groups have repeatedly called for the release of the three political prisoners.
During his election campaign in 2013, Iran’s current president, moderate Hassan Rohani, had pledged to release the three, but has failed to do so because of strong opposition from the country's hard-liners.
Earlier this year, both Karrubi and Musavi pledged their support for Rohani in the 19 May presidential election, in which Rohani easily won a new four-year term over a conservative challenger.
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09/09/2022 17:16
