Iranian Parliament fell into turmoil when Ali Motahari stood up to question the house arrest of MirHosein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Zahra Rahnavard, and the session was finally brought to an end by the order of the deputy speaker. Ali Motahari began his speech saying “I consider the house arrest of Mousavi, Karroubi and […]
Tag: Ali Motahari
Detained opposition leader writes to supportive MP
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 […]
MP slams steady rejection of Rohani’s proposed ministers
Iranian MP Ali Motahari criticized the general resistance to President Rohani’s choices for education minister, saying Parliament cannot dictate the appointment of ministers. In an interview with the Etemad daily on Sunday November 16, Motahari said parliamentarians today want to choose the minister of education, even though the legal procedure is that the administration […]
Administration defends record on detained opposition leaders
The Rohani administration has responded to criticism from Iranian MP Ali Motahari over its failure to secure the release of the opposition leaders under house arrest, saying it is working hard to resolve the situation but it does not feel it’s necessary to publicize every effort. Mohammad Bagher Nobakht told reporters on Wednesday October […]
MP renews call for release of opposition figures
Conservative Iranian MP Ali Motahari has once again urged the Islamic Republic government to release MirHosein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Zahra Rahnavard, the opposition leaders who have been under house arrest since February 2011 for challenging the legitimacy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory in the 2009 election. Ali Motahari stated that it is not in […]
Voices raised for jailed journalists, press freedom
Iranian MP Ali Motahari has called for the release of jailed journalists in Iran. At a gathering held by the Association of Non-governmental Newspapers to mark the Day of the Journalist, Motahari said: “We have a journalist who has been held in solitary confinement without any proper explanations because she followed up on the […]
MP Motahari fires back at Prosecutor over house arrests
Conservative MP Ali Motahari has once again condemned the house arrest of MirHosein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard and Mehdi Karroubi, saying recent statements by Prosecutor General Gholamhosein Mohseni Ejei indicate that he has condemned them to life imprisonment without a trial or a chance to defend themselves. Mohseni Ejei was responding to recent efforts to […]
MP reveals Leader rejected end to house arrests
According to Radio Zamaneh, outspoken Iranian MP Ali Motahari says Iran’s Supreme Leader has turned down his request to release MirHosein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi from house arrest, maintaining that their offence is too big and that if the late leader of the Revolution Ayatollah Khomeini were alive, he would have been even more […]
MP slams censorship of Persian-language news
Based on a report by Radio Zamaneh, Iranian MP Ali Motahari says the censorship of Persian-language networks is not right and should be avoided. IRNA reports that Motahari said: “We cannot restrict society’s access to news because of security reasons.” He added, however, that immoral websites should be blocked. A committee comprised of officials […]
MP Calls On Rouhani to Stop Judiciary’s Closure of Newspapers
A prominent member of the Iranian Parliament who sits on the Press Oversight Committee has called on the Rouhani Administration to stop what he believes is the wrongful process of newspaper closures. MP Ali Motahhari was speaking a day after the major daily Ghanoon was shut down by the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office on […]