Wives of seven Iranian reformists pursue complaint

Scene of post-election protests in Tehran

In a letter to Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, Iran's head of the judiciary, wives of the seven Iranian reformist leaders announced that they will pursue their husbands’ complaint regarding the “illegal interference” of the Revolutionary Guards in the elections.

Norooz website reports that Mahnaz Asgharzadeh, Effat Khatibi, Hengameh Razavi, Maryam Sharbatdar Qods, Sakineh Karimzadeh, Zahra Mojarradi and Fakhrossadat Mohtashamipour, wives of the seven reformist leaders, write that they insist that the complaint filed by their husbands is “completely legal as well as logical” and thus they intend to pursue it to the end.

The seven reformist leaders, all of whom were persecuted in the post-election crackdown on protesters of the alleged fraud in the presidential elections, issued a letter to head of the judiciary and head of the judicial branch of the armed forces in early August urging them to take legal action against the “illegal interference” of a group of military/intelligence forces in the presidential elections.

They maintained that in the an audio file recently disseminated through the web, the declarations of “Commander Moshfeq” a senior commander of Sarallah Base of the Revolutionary Guards reveal that the group had been trained to identify and confront the opposition.

The seven women describe the violent treatment of people in the post-election events by the security forces as well as the violent arrests and trials of protesters, and they go on to urge the judiciary to use this complaint as a test of “how the judiciary and the authorities can act impartially and display its honesty.”

The women also express disappointment that instead of pursuing the complaint, the judiciary has so far taken the path of persecuting the plaintiffs by recalling some of them back to prison.

Mostafa Safai Farahani, Mohsen Aminzadeh and Mostafa Tajzadeh who were released on bail after months in prison were called back to prison after the publication of this complaint.

The women insist that they will pursue this “lawful complaint” to its end.

Opposition leader, MirHosein Mousavi also urged the judiciary to attend to the complaint filed by the seven plaintiffs and expressed grave concern that the Islamic Republic “persecutes plaintiffs rather than investigating the accused.”

Commander Yadollah Javani, chief of political branch of the Revolutionary Guards reacted to the recent complaint against “Commander Moshfeq” saying: “If there is a court proceeding these individuals will appear in it and many other truths will then surface about the sedition and those who truly dealt blows during this time to the Islamic regime as well as national security and unity.”

The conservative faction of the Islamic Republic refers to the post-election protests against the alleged vote fraud as a seditious act aiming at toppling the government; a charge that the reformists adamantly deny.