Mehdi Karroubi, one of three Iranian opposition leaders who have been under house arrest since 2011, has reportedly written to Iranian MP Ali Motahari, urging him to persist in helping the detained leaders to officially stand trial.

Mehdi Karroubi refers to his house arrest as “an illegal punishment” and demands the right to stand before a judge in an open court and defend himself against whatever charges the judiciary proposes to bring against him.

Mehdi Karroubi as well as MirHosein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard have been under house arrest since February 2011 without any formal charges being brought against them.

Ali Motahari is the only voice in the Iranian establishment that has repeatedly called for the release of these opposition leaders and championed their right to stand trial.

Mehdi Karroubi acknowledges Motahari’s courage and insists that he (Karroubi) should be given a chance to present his defence against the “one-sided accusations” hurled at him in recent years.

Karroubi and Mousavi challenged the victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the 2009 presidential election and triggered widespread mass protests that were violently crushed by security and plainclothes forces of the Islamic Republic, leading to scores of deaths and thousands of arrests.

Radio Zamaneh