A Defiant Mir Hossein Mousavi from House Arrest: "I stand ready to expose the source of the extensive corruption that has engulfed our nation and our revolution."

A Defiant Mir Hossein Mousavi from House Arrest: "I stand ready to expose the source of the extensive corruption that has engulfed our nation and our revolution."
By Banooye Sabz
December 27, 2014

Saturday December 27th, 2014

In his first political statement since forced into illegal house arrest, Mir Hossein Mousavi, the Leader of Iran’s Green Movement responds to the recent wave of accusation, lies and fabrications published in pro-regime media outlets, reiterating: “The seditious and insurgent are those who have ransacked the empty pockets of the poor, the underprivileged and the oppressed and caused the massive corruption we are currently witnessing in our country.”

Mir Hossein Mousavi who has been abreast of the recent, extensive media campaign launched by pro-regime media outlets against the companions of the Green Movement, has referred to the lies and false accusations such as being involved in a sedition against the regime, a result of the impiety and weakness of those who lie and deceive. “From the onset of our house arrest my wife and I have repeatedly informed the authorities [via our prison guards] of our readiness to stand trial in an impartial and public court of law,” Mousavi stated, adding: “I stand before you ready to respond to the false allegations against me and to expose the source of the extensive corruption that has engulfed our nation and our revolution.”

Mir Hossein Mousavi and his wife Zahra Rahnavard have been under illegal house arrest for close to four years; neither Mousavi, nor Rahnavard have been officially charged with committing a crime, nor have they been provided access to due process in a court of law since the onset of their house arrest. Despite this obvious disregard for the law Mousavi insists: “The recent claims that that we have been officially charged are false. We have repeatedly demanded the presence of a judicial authority to determine our legal rights and to investigate the illegal entry of [security agents] and their presence in our home over the past several months without a court order. Despite the numerous promises made, no action has been taken to date,” said Mousavi.

“Those who have insisted on creating baseless accusations and referring to the maturity and growth of a nation as a handful of imbeciles wreaking havoc across the nation, now find themselves in the unenviable position of having to deny the pervasive, nationwide corruption, relying instead on psychological warfare and launching convoys of fabrications designed to divert the public opinion from the dangers facing our nation as a result of all the decline and corruption,” Mousavi insisted.

Source: Kaleme http://www.kaleme.com/1393/10/06/klm-205874/

Banooye Sabz
https://banouyesabz.wordpress.com/2014/12/27/i-stand-ready-to-expose-the-source-of-the-extensive-corruption-that-has-engulfed-our-nation-and-our-revolution-states-mousavi-from-illegal-house-arrest/

Transcript: Rafsanjani's Sermon

Transcript: Rafsanjani's Sermon
Friday, July 17, 2009 at 11:10

LATEST Iran Video: The Rafsanjani Prayer Address (17 July)
http://www.enduringamerica.com/2009/07/20/latest-iran-video-the-rafsanjani-prayer-address-17-july/

UPDATE: A more detailed translation can be found here.
http://shooresh1917.blogspot.com/2009/07/live-blogging-from-tehran.html

Over at Anonymous Iran, NiteOwl is providing an English translation of Rafsanjani's address at Friday prayers:

(Prayers for Muslims)
Before I give out the Khotba (speech of Friday), I must say that the people who have gathered in Tehran University and in streets,
They should know that Friday prayers should not be tainted with slogans and chants that do not belong here.
This is a sacred and an Islamic act.
(More jargon)
The enemies of Islam want to question the legitimacy and effectiveness of our regime.
(Still jargon going on)
The second part of my speech is about the revolution for which people did Jihad.
I want to explain to the younger generation where we started and where we are going with the revolution
The third part of my speech will be about the current situation of Iran.
This will be my personal view,
We are with you in your happiness and your grief.
(bad connection)

Nothing really important going on at this point.
He's just speaking about the early days of the revolution.
He's talking about how they opened up a school in Qom.
He's basically just talking about the early revolution, Qom and such.
he's just talking about the early history of Islam.
Nothing really about the current situation. That is going to come at the end.
He's only speaking about the early history of Islam. Completely irrelevant stuff.
He's talking about how Mohammed built the first mosque in Madina.
Now he's talking about he bought land in Medina to build the second Islamic mosque.
(sounds like he's trying to go for the emotional appeal)
Talking about Medina and the early days of Islam

What we learn from government from Islam is this: Follow god and then there's the people.
The Koran has Allah mentioned 3,000 times.
And the word for people has been used 4 to 5 hundred times.
What Mohammed did mostly was he created love and unity between the people.
The first thing Mohammed did was he united all the tribes in Medina.
Then he went to the people of other religions.
When Jews, Christians and people of other religion came to Medina,
He talked to all of them, and he created a unity within the city.
He created a brotherhood between everyone inside the city.
Between Muslims and non-Muslims.
This was a pact between brothers, between different religions.
This created eternal peace inside a small city.
This small city was able to use this peace and topple gigantic empires.
The government that Mohammed brought was unprecedented.
There were governments, but they were autocracies and they acted against the people.
Mohammed brought a government that was for the people, based on god's law.

When Gabriel came to Mohammed and gave him the first words of the Koran,
(Now reciting those first verses)
This was when the future of Mohammed was cleared for him.
(Explaining the verses)
God created man and gave him understanding and the power to write.
The power that gave us this ability,
He tells us that we have him as the judge.
And when we die, he will remember everything that we have done.
Thus, we shouldn't be arrogant, we should consider god's creatures weak.
Because He is the judge.
(more religious jargon, talking about angels)

Let us ask what sort of society the prophet wanted.
Mohammed wanted all humans to have all the rights,
He didn't want anyone's rights to be infringed upon.
One of the last things he said before he died,
He said, Oh people, I came to say Good Bye to you.
If I have said something to you and I have not done it, please let me know.
If I have taken something from you, then tell me so I could give it back.
I don't want anything to be left for the afterlife.
This is the kind of leader we have.
He paved the way for Islamic unity.
(recites a verse from the Koran)
(Verse talks about unity of Muslims)
God has put love between humans.
It was god who created love between Muslims.

That's how Mohammed created a society that was united as one.
But when he was dying, he realized that this might come to an end.
And that people might break apart and might create enemies with one another.
(explains a couple of incidents that created rifts between earlier Muslims)
Do know that Mohammed is the ideal for everyone,
For all Muslims, for all humans.
His life in Medina is the best example for how a government should operate.
He fought along side his friends and his loved ones at times when he was being attacked from all sides.
Then a day came when his friends captured the Empires of the Sassanids.
But at the end of his life, he realized that there might be rifts between Muslims,
And their unity might be in danger.
In his ten years of prophecy, he created a system upon which we have based our own revolution.
(phone cut off for a little)
(Recites a verse) (reciting more verses)
(Praying for the martyred members of Mohammed's family)

This week, Imam Jafar Sadigh's martyrdom's celebration will be held.
He spent his entire life either in prison or being censored.
(Talking about Imam Jafar Sadigh's life and how pious a man he was)

I want to talk about the death of the Chinese citizens recently,
(People are chanting Azadi .. Azadi .. )
People, I have asked you all to not chant slogans
I am asking you as your Imam at this prayer,
The government of China has quelled the protests.
We would like to give them a brotherly advice,
There are more than a billion Muslims in the world,
China should pay attention to its relations between itself.
Such cruelty could destroy those relations.
There are fighting in Palestine and Pakistan and other places,
Hopefully they will stop.

The elections that took place,
The preparations were good.
We liked what went before the election,
The four candidates,
They talked in an open environment,
People became hopeful about the elections,
We should have been proud of this election,
Because people went to vote, in large numbers,
We should thank them for voting.
For taking part in the election is such huge numbers,
Alas, if only that environment continued to this day.
What happened after the election was not what we expected it to be.
Let us ask ourselves what we want,
What does the revolution want?

You are listening to someone who has been with the revolution every minute of the revolution
We know what Imam Khomeini wanted,
What his ideas were,
Imam Khomeini always said that you should always listen to the people,
See what the people want,
If the people are with us, then we have everything.
The Islamic Revolution was the way of Mohammed.
People should be brought into the system first,
This is why Imam Khomeini was successful.

It took years of hardship for us to get to where we are.
We remember when people filled the streets,
When they took to protesting with the Imam Khomeini,
Against a government that was getting help from the East and the West,
But people stood firm.
And they succeeded.
After the success of the revolution,
We were with Imam Khomeini,
He always said that without the participation of the people the Islamic government would never be successful.
The role that Imam gave the people was very high.
(Story about Mohammed's late life about how important people are)
(More religious jargon)

When we were writing the new constitution,
We asked the Imam for advice,
He put a lot of emphasis on the role of the people.
He also knew that people's vote was the most important thing inside our country.
Everything depended upon the people's vote.
People should directly elect the president, the parliament, the local council.
It was all about the vote of the people.
This is a theocracy,
A theocratic republic.
(People chanting)
Be patient, be calm.
If the government is not Islamic, then we are heading no where.
If it is not a republic, then it doesn't amount to anything.

The elections that took place,
We have taken a step.
What I think is the solution to what is going on is that, at the end of the process,
There were people who created false propaganda,
(People chanting REALLY loudly)
A large number of people became suspicious,
We need to clear their suspicions.

Today, we need unity more than ever.
Our country needs to be united against this danger.
My brothers,
My sisters,
My view is this,
We should all think together
So our country could remain united,
Against this danger that is facing us.
Our enemies are trying to destroy our unity,

I have several proposals for this,
I have talked to my friends about this.
I'm going to express them to you as well.

The most important thing that has happened is that the trust that brought the people to vote in such large number is not there anymore.
We need to return this trust.
We all need to follow the law. And I'm talking about the government, the parliament, the Islamic Courts and the security forces.
We need to follow the laws.
All problems can be solved if we only follow the framework of the laws.
We need to create an environment where all sides could come together and discuss their issues.
We need to be able to sit down like brothers and sisters and talk about our differences.
Unfortunately,
The chance that was given to the Guardian Council of five days to get people together and regain their trust was not used.
That is not there anymore.
But we still have time to unite.

We shouldn't imprison our own people,
We should let these people return to their homes,
We shouldn't let our enemies laugh at us because we've imprisoned our own people.
We should sit together with mourners,
And we should console them,
And bring them back closer to the system.
We should not be impatient now.

Please do not censor media outlets that have legally obtained permits.
Let them do what they want to do legally.
Allow a peaceful and friendly environment to prosper.
We are all together in the Islamic Revolution,
We've all spent years in suffering,
We've all given martyrs for the cause of the revolution,
This unity needs to fostered.

I'm hopeful that we will be able to achieve this unity in the future,
And I'm hopeful we will get out of this situation,
Based on the wishes of the people,
And consensus among the leaders.

May God Bless You All.
May God Bless You All.
May God keep you all safe,
Keep you with this spirit, around.

(End of speech.)

Enduring America
http://www.enduringamerica.com/july-2009/2009/7/17/transcript-rafsanjanis-sermon.html

Shirin Ebadi Condemns Illegal Arrest of Opposition Leaders Mousavi & Karroubi

Shirin Ebadi Condemns Illegal Arrest of Opposition Leaders Mousavi & Karroubi
By Banooye Sabz
Sunday, March 27, 2011

Translator’s Note: The following is a English translation of a portion of the speech given by Shirin Ebadi, Noble Prize Laureate during a conference that took place in London on March 13th, 2011 entitled “Post 25 Bahman (March 1st)”. I decided to translate Mrs. Ebadi’s statements as she took the words out of my mouth… I couldn’t agree with her more. As Iranians we must try to express our demands in terms of specific, legal and attainable goals. As Mousavi has stated on so many occasions, the Green movement is a peaceful movement that does not wish “death” upon anyone… Expressing our demands in terms of statements such as “death to dictator” ,though might serve to make us feel better in the short run, will not get us any closer to democracy. Like Mrs. Ebadi I believe that we should make our demands based on tangible, democratic principles such as “Freedom of Expression”, “Freedom of Religion”, “Freedom of the Press” etc. These are the principles upon which we should base our demands. The form the government takes that respects our demands and implements them and what we call that government, whether it be an Islamic Republic, a Christian Republic, a Secular Democracy, etc. becomes less relevant, as long as we have achieved our democratic goals….

Shirin Ebadi London 13th March 2011

With regards to the arrests of Mr. Karroubi and Mr. Mousavi, I wrote a letter immediately to Mr. Ban Ki-Moon the Secretary General of the United Nations and I also presented a report to the Council of Human Rights. I didn’t do this because I was a supporter of Mr. Mousavi or Mr. Karroubi. I would have done the same thing for anyone arrested under the same circumstances. This was also not my first letter to the In the past two years alone, I have sent more than 150 letters. Every time I witnessed [human rights] violations, I felt it my duty to write a letter and present a report. By the same token, I felt it my duty to report on the violation with regards to the supposed “house arrest”, better stated the “incarceration” of Mousavi and Karroubi. In my opinion “house arrest” is not the correct definition here, as in reality they have been incarcerated. A prison is an enclosed room. The individual incarcerated is not allowed to leave the room. He/she is denied all communication with the outside world and not even permitted to prepare their own meals. We can call this prison Evin; we can call it Heshmatiye, or we can call it a house… [applause] Specifically, I view these acts as violations and reported them to [human rights organizations] because these gentlemen were imprisoned despite the fact that no charges were filed against them, in the absence of a trial and against the legal provisions of the Islamic Republic, in other words, the government did not abide by its own laws.

Let us now examine the difference between civil aspirations versus political aspirations. When we make claims such as, “death to this person or the other”, or we state that we want a democracy, or we say death to dictator, that we do not want a dictatorship, or statements such as “we need to completely eliminate the current Constitution or eliminate the Valayat-e-faqih” [supremacy of the jurist]; when we make these type of significant statements, in other words statements that are legally vague and difficult to quantify, what does that mean? Let us define our demands more specifically and simply. I want freedom of expression. I want the freedom of religion. I want the freedom to have free and fair elections. I want to have the same rights as that of my brother. These are my demands. Any government that grants me these rights is acceptable and good in my eyes, whether it be called an Islamic Republic, whether we call it a Monarchy, or whether its called a Christian Republic… call it what you wish… that is not of importance… these are my demands… I view any government that grants me these rights as acceptable and good… What’s the point in saying I want democracy? Do you recall the mistake we made during the Shah’s era? Do you recall the statement “… let him go… the rest will be fixed…” Yes, we witnessed his departure, but nothing changed…. [applause]…..

Banooye Sabz
http://banooyesabzirani.blogspot.com/2011/03/shirin-ebadi-condemns-illegal-arrest-of.html
http://banouyesabz.wordpress.com/2011/03/27/shirin-ebadi-condemns-illegal-arrest-of-opposition-leaders-mousavi-karroubi/

Video Tehran Tohid Square March 1st, 2011 Chants of "Ya Hossein... Mir Hossein"

Video Tehran Tohid Square March 1st, 2011 Chants of "Ya Hossein... Mir Hossein"
By Banooye Sabz
Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Banooye Sabz
http://banooyesabzirani.blogspot.com/2011/03/video-tehran-tohid-square-march-1st.html

LIVE FROM TEHRAN: People Gathering in Enghelab Square Chanting Ya Hossein ... Mir Hossein

LIVE FROM TEHRAN: People Gathering in Enghelab Square Chanting Ya Hossein ... Mir Hossein
By Banooye Sabz
Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Tuesday March 1st, 2011 - Protesters have begun gathering outside Tehran University and Enghelab Square, chanting Ya Hossein... Mir Hossein. According to reports by a Kaleme reporter, plain clothes agents and security forces have clashed with protesters in front of Tehran University, firing tear gas at the crowd.

There is a large gathering of protesters forming in the streets leading to Enghelab and Azadi streets. The protesters are on foot, in the sidewalks moving towards Enghelab street. Most gatherings have been reported in and around Tehran University and the Enghelab metro station. The main slogans heard are "Ya Hossein... Mir Hossein..."

Large presence of security forces and plain clothes agents across streets in Tehran, preventing people from gathering.

Source: Kaleme http://www.kaleme.com/1389/12/10/klm-49952/

Banooye Sabz
http://banooyesabzirani.blogspot.com/2011/03/live-from-tehran-people-gathering-in.html

Mousavi's Daughters Strongly Reject Denial by State Owned Media Regarding their Parents' Arrest

Mousavi's Daughters Strongly Reject Denial by State Owned Media Regarding their Parents' Arrest
By Banooye Sabz
Monday, February 28, 2011

February 28th 2011 - In a short conversation with Kaleme, the children of Mousavi and Rahnavard strongly rejected the report by the state owned news agency Fars News, denying the arrest of their parents.

Mousavi's daughters told Kaleme: "Given what we have witnessed in the past few days and weeks, we are certain that our parents are no longer at their residence. The only way we can deny the arrest of our parents is if are given the opportunity to meet with them." Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard's daughters reiterated: "We the children of Dr. Zahra Rahnavard and Mir Hossein Mousavi strongly reject hasty reports by a number of state owned news agencies denying the arrest and transfer of our parents to Heshmatiyeh prison."

Mousavi and Rahnavard's daughters added: "We will only be in a position to deny the arrest and incarceration of our parents if we are able to visit with them and they are immediately returned to their home without threats and without the presence of security forces and in the same physical and mental condition as prior to their disappearance."

Mousavi's daughters added: "Despite voicing our concerns on numerous occasions, in the past two weeks we have been kept in the dark regarding the well being of our parents and their associate Mehdi Karroubi and his honorable wife. We have faced nothing but a mysterious silence and contradictory statements from government authorities.

Mousavi's daughters believe that the contradictory statements by security forces is an attempt by the ruling government to gradually reduce the people's sensitivity to the news of their parents' arrest. They emphasized that spreading rumors in state owned media outlets is counter productive and insisted that the authorities of the Islamic Republic provide an official response to the whereabouts and well being of their parents and their request to meet with them immediately.

Source: Kaleme http://www.kaleme.com/1389/12/09/klm-49768/

Banooye Sabz
http://banooyesabzirani.blogspot.com/2011/02/mousavis-daughters-strongly-reject.html

Zahra Rahnavard admitted to Noor Eye Hospital & Clinic for Eye Surgery

Zahra Rahnavard admitted to Noor Eye Hospital & Clinic for Eye Surgery
By Banooye Sabz
October 11, 2014

Friday October 10th, 2014 – Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of the Leader of the Green Movement Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has been under illegal house arrest for over 1300 days, underwent eye surgery on Friday October 10th, at Noor Eye Hospital & Clinic, the first ophthalmology sub-specialty clinic in Iran established in 1993. Mrs Rahnavard’s eye surgery took place three months after her physician had recommended immediate treatment.

According to reports by Kaleme Rahnavard’s eye surgery was a success and Mrs Rahnavard is in good condition. She was accompanied by her husband Mir Hossein Mousavi, but her daughters were yet again denied the right to accompany their parents to the hospital.

Source: Kaleme: http://www.kaleme.com/1393/07/18/klm-199979/

Banooye Sabz
http://banouyesabz.wordpress.com/2014/10/11/zahra-rahnavard-admitted-to-noor-eye-hospital-clinic-for-eye-surgery/