Mohammad Hossein Karroubi, the son of political dissident under house arrest since February 2011 Mehdi Karroubi, has written a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei decrying the continued confiscation of personal items security forces took in February 2013.

“On February 11, 2013, security forces accompanying a representative from the Prosecutor’s Office, who had covered their heads and looked like thieves, stormed my home and that of two of Mir Hossein Mousavi’s daughters, and during the search, more than 30 personal items, including identification documents, property deeds, financial documents, cell phones, laptops belonging to myself and other members of my family, and other items, were confiscated and taken away. After three weeks, only the birth certificates, national ID cards, and two other items were returned,” Hossein Karroubi said in his letter, which he published on his personal Facebook page.

“More than two years ago, on the day my parents were put under illegal house arrest, security forces raided my home, broke the locks, and occupied it for 20 days. After the raid, they went to my children’s schools, took their educational records, and confiscated them for four months. My passport has been confiscated for more than three years and I have not been allowed to leave the country, not even to the Hajj pilgrimage,” he continued in his letter.

Comparing the treatment methods of security forces in the Islamic Republic to those of the security forces under the Shah, the son of the former Iranian Speaker of the Parliament addressed his concerns to the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader. “During the previous regime, SAVAK [the Shah’s Intelligence and Security Organization] raided the home of my combative grandfather and my courageous father, but none of these raids, not once, led to the confiscation of their personal and familial properties, and as repeatedly stated by combatants prior to the Revolution, SAVAK never attempted to confiscate the personal properties of political dissidents. The SAVAK security forces at least had a modicum of self respect and did not enter people’s private domain, but it appears that for the present security forces, boundaries and borders have no meaning. Did the Imam [Khomeini] and the nation have an uprising so that an organization rougher and more immoral than SAVAK to take over security affairs in Iran?” Karroubi wrote.

Mohammad Hossein Karroubi ended his letter by asking Ali Khamenei to prevent the repetition of such events by reprimanding individuals involved in the situation. “You correctly recognized the act of Mr. Ahmadinejad in the Parliament against the Larijani brothers as ‘an act that is against the Sharia, morality, and the law!’ Isn’t confiscation of the personal property of political-social activists against the Sharia, morality, and the law? (I find it necessary to inform you that confiscation of documents and personal papers as a tool for abusing political dissidents has become an established norm by the Islamic Republic security apparatus.) Therefore, it is expected of you to issue the orders required for the correction of these norms in order to maintain the reputation of the religious state by reprimanding these individuals and preventing the repetition of these immoral and anti-Sharia acts. As necessary, I will inform you of the degree to which security forces obey your commands in this area in future letters,” Mohammad Hossein Karroubi concluded.

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran