The daughters of Iranian opposition leaders MirHosein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard have been threatened with arrest by Islamic Republic security forces, the Kaleme Website reports

According to the opposition website, in addition to threats of arrest, one of the daughter has been banned from her teaching position at Al-Zahra University.

Mousavi and Rahnavard have been under house arrest since last February, when, together with opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi, they rallied Iranians to march in solidarity with recent Arab uprisings.

The Mousavi and Karroubi children issued a letter two days ago, urging all their compatriots and “freedom lovers of the world” to strive for the release of their parents and all other Iranian political prisoners.

They added that the opposition leaders have been deprived of all of their rights, even as prisoners, adding that “aside from a handful of telephone calls and limited and highly controlled visits, they are completely cut off from the outside world.”

Activists and rights group inside and outside of Iran have been calling for the release of the opposition leaders; most recently, 39 political prisoners issued a letter echoing this demand.

Kaleme reports that in addition to detaining supporters of the Green Movement, the protest movement that disputed the outcome of the 2009 presidential elections, the authorities have also repeatedly subjected the families of the detainees to pressure and various forms of persecution.

“Detaining family members, subjecting them to repeated interrogations, interfering with their family ceremonies and their day-to-day lives, threats to their lives, jobs or banning them from travel abroad” are among the pressures constantly faced by the families of political prisoners, according to Kaleme.

The Coordination Council for the Green Path of Hope has issued a rally call inviting Iranians to join a silent demonstration in Tehran and other major cities to mark the anniversary of the arrest of Mousavi, Rahnavard and Karroubi.

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Another Report:

[Kaleme] On the eve of the one year anniversary of the illegal house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard, and following the joint letter recently published by the children of Mousavi and Karroubi, , security forces have reportedly threatened to arrest Mousavi’s daughters and one daughter has been banned from activities at the university where she teaches.

Kaleme reports that security forces who have in the past repeatedly threatened Mousavi’s daughters, this time contacted the daughters directly and threatened to arrest them, transfer them to prison or another location where no one will have any news of them.   Furthermore, one of Mousavi’s daughters have been banned from activities at the university where she teaches.

No explanation has been provided to date regarding why Mousavi’s daughter has been banned from the university where she teaches. Despite numerous inquiries into the matter, it is unclear who is behind the order to ban Mousavi’s daughter and no one has taken responsibility for the ban.  Mousavi’s daughter teaches art at the University of Alzahra.  It is worth mentioning that the ban took place without any written notice, but Mousavi’s daughter was deleted from the university’s internet teaching system.

In the past year many of the supporters of the Green movement have been detained and imprisoned and their families  have also endured extreme pressure.  These pressures have included continued arrest of family members, repeated interrogations, interference with every day activities, threat to their lives, pressure and threat at work, being banned from leaving the country and even being banned from pursuing their careers or professions.

Last year, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi requested a permit from the ruling government for a rally in support of the freedom fighting movements in the Middle East.  Their request for a permit was not only denied, but the ruling government went as far as illegally detaining the two companions of the Green movement in their homes. In the past year Mousavi, Karroubi and Rahnavard have been deprived of the basic rights afforded all prisoners in Iran and their families have been denied the right to contact them by phone or to see them in person.  They have been isolated, rendered incommunicado, kept in the dark with regards to the condition of their families, told lies and even prevented from attending the funeral of their loved ones.

Their arrest, the ambiguity regarding their location, their well being and the medicines they have been prescribed points to the possibility of dangerous scenarios designed to put their lives at risk.

Although in principle this illegal arrest is similar to all other questionable and illegal arrests that have taken place since 2009; arrests that were merely as the result of the commitment by Green activists and their sense of responsibility towards the challenges facing our nation, what makes it bizarre and unprecedented is the fact that an unjust political conflict has now entered the daily lives of family members of the arrested and detained. It goes without saying that given that Mousavi and Karroubi have repeatedly reiterated that they will remain true to their oath with the people and their family’s insistence to stand by their demand for justice, these type of tactics by the ruling government are fruitless and will lead to nothing more than short term and temporary gains.

Source: Kaleme http://www.kaleme.com/1390/11/20/klm-90072/