Mousavi, Karroubi, and Bayat-Zanjani Hold Meeting

Here is what they talked about:


Video Report: On Monday (Jan 31, 2011) Mir Hossein Mousavi met with Mehdi Karroubi in a surprise visit. In this visit Grand Ayatollah Bayat-Zanjani, senior religious figure and critic of government, who was previously prevented by security forces from visiting with Mehdi Karroubi was also present. This meeting took place since the security forces stationed in front of Mehdi Karroubi’s residence were absent on Monday.

In this meeting Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi objected to the numerous executions and rushing into conducting executions without completing the legal process in the country; and considered it the result of the government's recklessness and plans to create terror and fear in the society. They added: "Regardless of the people's charges and the validity of those charges, it is the legal and legitimate right of every human to be granted all his or her rights in a complete legal process."

Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi continued: "Does the execution of almost 300 people in the last year have any outcome for the public opinion other than creating fear and terror in the society, and making Iran even more isolated in the international scene? Is execution without completing the legal process and without the knowledge of the family of the accused, a humane and Islamic action? What is up with not releasing the bodies [of those who were executed] to the families, that has become a tradition?! Therefore, we, as citizens of this country and members of the noble nation of Iran, demand a stop to this process and we hope that the country's judiciary can independently and by extending the full legal and legitimate rights to those accused and considering the Islamic kindness and mercy, comes up with a solution so that we do not witness such unjust process in the country."

In another part of their remarks, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi stated: "Today, even in Arabic countries, we witness political and democratic growth. No power can suppress people's will and demand. Sooner or later, autocratic and tyrant powers are sentenced to vanish. Today, nations are aware and one after the other take control of their fate and this is the will of the nations that has shaken tyrants. Even though, in Egypt we witness that instead of accepting the will and demand of his nation, for many years Hosni Mubarak has tried to suppress the people by having engineered elections and establishing preset parliaments and using thugs and goons; but he did not succeed, just as today he cannot take control of the situation by suppression and treats either. Of course, the action of Egypt's army in announcing its neutrality and considering people's demand legitimate must be thanked and praised; and it appears that the army, unlike the tyrant and autocratic government of Egypt, has heard the voice of the people's revolution correctly."

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi continued: "We hope that the voice of the freedom-seeking revolution of the people in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen reaches the ears of the tyrant and autocratic rulers in the region and in the world so that they learn lessons and revisit and review their actions and behaviors. Today in Egypt, despite tensions and clashes; the protesters are given permission to demonstrate so that it becomes clear which side has the public support, therefore, we also believe that in Iran, the protestors to the [rigged presidential] election must be given the right to demonstrate so that it becomes clear which movement has social and public support."

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi in their meeting also pointed to the catastrophic economic situation of the country and expressed deep concerns regarding the hardships that the unprivileged and low-income layers of the society are suffering and added: “These days the simplest economic activities such as transferring money for business sectors has become a nightmare. Most of the international banks do not consider Iran for any kind of business activates and the government instead of reforming the situation has turned to censorship, diverting public mind and [secret] arrangements. According to credible reports currently the production costs have raised up to 40% due to international sanctions, which as a result has led many small and medium size business sectors to closure. According to chairman of Workers Unions more than 600 productions unites have been shutdown and thousands of workers lost their jobs. We believe that these hardships imposed on the people of the country are the outcome of the incompetence of the government officials and their adventurous and alarmist policies in international affairs. This is while in addition to the warnings of the economists inside the country, the international economists also warned that the economy of the country is in crisis and very bad shape.”

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi at the end of their meeting expressed hope that with God’s will and with the consciousness of the great nation of Iran, Iran can proudly and victoriously put these curtail and hard times behind as well.