Iran’s prosecutor general announced at his latest press conference that the the opposition leaders under house arrest are offenders and there has been no reconsideration of their punishment.

Asked about the possible prosecution in court of the two opposition leaders, MirHosein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, the spokesman for Iran’s judiciary, Gholamhosein Mohseni Ejei, said: “These individuals have committed an offence, and the harm was suffered by the system, the country and the people.”

“Those who have been put under house arrest,” Ejei said; “were not protesters, their actions were criminal and they have acted against the people, and in law it has been stated how we have to deal with those who commit a crime.”

He added: “About these particular people, certain decisions were made and there has been no change in their punishment.”

There had been high hopes that the Rohani administration could broker a deal with the Islamic Republic establishment to release MirHosein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard and Mehdi Karroubi, who have been under house arrest since February 2011, but instead there has been a conservative backlash at every level of the Islamic Republic system, with a rising number of executions and a refusal to change any conditions of the opposition leaders’ house arrest.

Radio Zamaneh