Iran frees three of seven reformist leaders detained for criticizing repression of protests without dropping charges

The Iranian authorities released the leader of the Reformist Front on bail this Thursday, Azar Mansouriarrested last Sunday along with four other prominent opposition figures for criticizing the brutal campaign of repression articulated by the regime to quell the protests, in which more than 6,000 protesters died, according to the count of the Iranian human rights organization HRANA.

The Tehran Prosecutor’s Office brought charges against four of the detained representatives of the reformist camp for “undermining national unity” and “coordinating with the enemy’s propaganda.” “Those who issue statements against the Islamic Republic from within are replicating the voices of the Zionist regime and the United States,” denounced the head of the Judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejeiafter confirming the arrests.

As Mansouri’s lawyer told the ISNA agency, Hojjat Kermaniin addition to the former advisor to the former president Mohammad Jatamiwas also released this Thursday Jawad Emamspokesperson for the Reformist Front and former campaign manager of the opposition leader Mir-Hosein Musaviwho has remained under house arrest since 2011. According to the independent media Radio ZamanehEmam already had a history.

The former deputy Ebrahim Asgharzadehhead of the Front’s political committee, also left this week the infamous Evin prison, where dozens of political prisoners languish, including the activist Narges MohammadiNobel Peace Prize.

According to the news agency Farsone of the media arms of the Revolutionary Guard, the release of the three critical leaders “was carried out thanks to the efforts of Masud Pezeshkian“The Iranian president, a prominent member of the reformist sector of the regime, received the support of those who retaliated in the July 2024 elections, early elections after the death of his predecessor, Ebrahim Raisiin which he beat in the second round Saeed Jalilihis ultraconservative rival.

Pezeshkian lost part of the support of the reformist sector due to his inability to impose his agenda, but he remains the friendliest face of the regime. He is the only leader who has apologized for the repression campaign, which resulted in the arrest of 52,600 protesters, according to the NGO Human Rights Activists, although he has attributed the protests to foreign conspiracies and has closed ranks with the supreme leader, Ali Jamenei.

However, three other prominent reformist leaders remain held in the regime’s prisons, such as Mohsen Aminzadehwho was vice minister of Foreign Affairs during the Khatami administration; Hosein Karrubione of the sons of the former president of Parliament Mehdi Karrubione of the leaders of the Green Movement; and Ali Shakouri-Radformer secretary general of the Ettehad-e Mellat party.

The latter pronounced through a speech broadcast on an opposition Telegram channel known as Jomhuriyat that, at 86 years old, “it was possible” that Khamenei would not be able to “change his views, but he can say: I am stepping aside.”