Thaindian News

TEHRAN (BNO NEWS) — Iran on Monday arrested opposition leaders Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi as well as their wives, according to an opposition news website. It comes just a day before a planned protest.

The Kaleme website reported that Mousavi and Karoubi were arrested on Monday and taken to Heshmatiyeh jail in Tehran, the Iranian capital. Their wives, also opposition figures, were also arrested.

Officials did not immediately confirm the arrests, and there was no mention on state-run media.

Earlier this month, the four opponents of the government had been removed to a “safe house” which officials said was for their own protection, although they were not officially arrested. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran condemned the move, calling it an enforced disappearance under international law.

“The four prominent people have been disappeared; they are being held incommunicado in an unknown location, a severe breach of Iranian and international law,” Aaron Rhodes, a spokesperson for the Campaign, said on Saturday. “Given the lynch mob-like calls for their execution by numerous Iranian politicians and clerics, there is reason to be deeply concerned for their safety and well being.”

One of Karroubi’s neighbors reportedly told the Campaign last week that there were no security forces present on Karroubi’s street. “I am certain that they are no longer inside their home. All the windows are broken and nobody is home,” his neighbor, who was not identified, said.

The reported arrests come just a day before a planned protest on Tuesday, called for by Mousavi and Karoubi. They called for protests to be held each Tuesday until they would be released from their safe house.