More than 400 Iranian political and civil activists are calling for the release of Iranian opposition leaders MirHosein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Zahra Rahnavard.

In a statement signed by 402 prominent Iranian activists, they refer to the events of the past three years in Iran to denounce the widespread arrests of activists and, specifically, the house arrest of the three opposition leaders.

The signatories insists that the outcome of the 2009 presidential election was fraudulent, adding that: “It is now almost three years that, with the continuous crackdown on freedom and justice seekers, Iran has turned into a large prison, and its political and civic arenas are under military rule.”

They go on to say that the prisons are filled with political and civil activists, students, journalists, professors and civil servants, both men and women.

The signatories add that they will join the “release campaign” formed to protest against the house arrest of the Iranian opposition leaders; they will call on Ahmad Shaheed, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in Iran, to pursue the cases of all political prisoners in Iran and to join the call for the release of the opposition leaders.

The activists also indicate that the house arrest of these leaders is not legal by any standard, including the laws of the Islamic Republic.

The opposition leaders have been under house arrest and completely cut off from the outside world since one year ago, when they called for Iranians to march in solidarity with recent Arab uprisings.

Source : Radio Zamaneh