Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami has once again called for the release of political prisoners.

Kaleme reports that Khatami told a meeting of student representatives from across the country: “We hope that the outcome of the election will be an end to all political arrests and a release of political prisoners.”

ILNA also reports that Khatami stressed: “We said that we would not put conditions on this election but we still hope that the outcome of the election would be the transformation of a security atmosphere to an open political one.”

Khatami has repeatedly called for the release of political prisoners, specifically the release of the opposition leaders MirHosein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard and Mehdi Karroubi, who remain under house arrest since February 2011 for challenging the legitimacy of the 2009 election.

Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of Iran’s Expediency Council, also called for an open political atmosphere in a speech he gave on Friday August 30.

ILNA reports that Ayatollah Rafsanjani stressed: “Right now we need security, and this security comes with freedom of speech and knowledge.”
(Radio ZAmaneh)