Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Iranian opposition leader hospitalised after hunger strike - report

Published 17/08/2017, 11:43
Updated 17/08/2017, 11:50
Iranian opposition leader hospitalised after hunger strike - report

Iranian opposition leader hospitalised after hunger strike - report

ANKARA (Reuters) - Mehdi Karroubi, an elderly Iranian opposition leader under house arrest since 2011, was hospitalised on Thursday after starting a hunger strike to support his demand for a public trial, his official website reported.

Opposition leaders Karroubi, Mirhossein Mousavi and his wife Zahra Rahnavard have been confined to their homes for six-and-a-half years after calling for rallies in solidarity with pro-democracy uprisings then shaking Arab countries.

They have never been put on trial or publicly charged. Both Karroubi, 80, and Mousavi, 75, suffer from ailments partly associated with their age. Karroubi has been hospitalised twice in recent weeks and underwent heart surgery.

Karroubi's son, Mohammad Taghi Karroubi, confirmed the Sahamnews website report on his Twitter account: "At 1 a.m. Thursday father was sent to hospital due to the hunger strike. Pray a lot".

Sahamnews quoted the Shi'ite cleric's wife, Fatemeh Karroubi, as saying that he would refuse "to eat or drink until his demands are met".

Karroubi and Mousavi ran in what became a disputed 2009 election that returned hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power and triggered mass protests ultimately crushed by the elite Revolutionary Guards and its affiliated Basij militia.

Dozens of political activists, lawmakers, journalists and artists have urged pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani to fulfil his campaign promises of getting the opposition leaders freed, but he has been blocked by security and judiciary services that answer only to hardline Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"He does not expect a fair trial but wants it to be public and would respect the verdict," Karroubi's wife told Sahamnews on Wednesday.

Karroubi, a former parliament speaker, has also asked for security forces to leave his house, which is under round-the-clock surveillance by the Revolutionary Guards.

"He wants the security guards to leave the premises of his house," Karroubi's wife told Sahamnews on Wednesday.

"Such a level of surveillance has never been seen before or after the (1979 Islamic) revolution ... He wants the authorities to announce when they will hold a public trial."

The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on called on Wednesday for the immediate release of "ailing political leaders".

"Karroubi's life is in danger and the state, which has detained him without trial, is responsible for whatever happens to him while he is in its custody," CHRI executive director Hadi Ghaemi said.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.