Iranian dissident slams American, Israeli military threats

A leading opposition figure has signalled his dismay at the Iranian authorities' refusal to allow the Secretary-General of the United Nations to meet with the imprisoned leaders of Iran's opposition Green Movement.

Ban Ki-moon, who arrived in Tehran last week to attend the 16th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit, had called on Iran to better its human rights situation by releasing opposition leaders, political activists and journalists.

"It is especially important for the voices of Iran's people to be heard during next year's presidential election," Ban said.

"That is why I have urged the authorities during my visit this time to release opposition leaders, human rights defenders, journalists and social activists to create the conditions for free expression and open debate."

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi spearheaded the opposition movement following the widely contested 2009 presidential election. The men were placed under house arrested in February 2011 after calling for demonstrations in support of protesters in Egypt and Tunisia.

In his most recent letter to Ban, Ardeshir Amir-Arjomand, the spokesperson for the Coordination Council of the Green Path of Hope, praised the Secretary-General's calls for the voice of the Iranian people to be heard in the 2013 presidential race.

Amir-Arjomand said that even Iran's former President Mohammad Khatami, a leading pro-reform figure, was faced with tremendous limitations and pressures from the hard-line ruling elite.

"The architect of the idea and initiative of Dialogue Among Civilisations ... is being faced with increasing constraints, even for expressing his opinion in his country of birth."

"This approach clearly demonstrates the current political situation in Iran," Amir-Arjomand continued.

In April 2010, it was reported that Khatami, who was expected to attend a nuclear disarmament conference in Japan, was barred from travelling abroad.

Amir-Arjomand, a senior legal advisor to Mousavi during the 2009 presidential race, condemned the repeated Israeli threats of military action against Iran over its nuclear programme as well as "irresponsible" comments made by US congressman Dana Rohrabacher about the separation of Iranian Azerbaijan from the rest of the motherland.

Source: GVF