Reformists call for release of opposition leaders in open letter

Source: 
Radio Zamaneh
Publication date: 
Dec 11 2013

Nine reformist figures have called for the release of political prisoners and an end to the house arrest of MirHosein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard and Mehdi Karroubi.

The Etemad daily reported on Tuesday December 10 that their letter refers to the election of 2009, saying: “During the 2009 election, many committed errors, and as Mr. Khatami has said, we must forgive each other and try to build Iran’s future hand in hand.”

The letter then goes on to call for a decisive move by the administration and the Supreme Council of National Security to end the house arrests of former reformist candidates Mousavi and Karroubi, who challenged the outcome of the 2009 election.

The letter stresses that the continuation of the current situation is only in the interest of “extremists who have no other objective than to destroy the country.”

The letter has been signed by Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, Elias Hazrati, Reza Nrouzzadeh, Saeed Leilaz, Esmail Dousti, Massoud Soltanifar and Nemat Ahmadi.

Despite his campaign promises, Hassan Rohani has not been successful so far in securing the release of Mousavi, Rahnavard and Karroubi, and Islamic Republic hardliners have dashed hopes for their release in the near future, claiming the opposition leaders should just be thankful that they were not executed for their role in triggering widespread election protests in 2009.

http://archive.radiozamaneh.com/english/content/reformists-call-release-opposition-leaders-open-letter