February 17, 2011
In a message sent to Deutsche Welle via his adviser Mojtaba Vahedi,Mehdi Karroubi referred to the recent declarations by the ruling government in the aftermath of the February 14th, 2011 [25 Bahman 1389] demonstrations as “bogus” and demanded that he be put on trial “in a court similar to the infamous trials in which Khosro Golesorkhi and Mahmoud Taleghani were put on trial during the reign of the Shah of Iran.”
Mojtaba Vahedi told Deutsche Welle: “As an adviser of Mehdi Karroubi, I wish to read a direct message to your audience from Mr. Karroubi that I received minutes ago under very difficult conditions.” Mr. Vahedi added: “Mr. Karroubi emphasized that although his message is addressed to the public at large, first and foremost he would like to extend a deep and heartfelt apology to his neighbors whose peace and comfort was once again disturbed last night Wednesday February 16th, 2011 until 3:00am by government thugs. These individuals proceeded to use extremely vulgar words in their slogans, words that are not even worthy of families associated with this regime. Mr. Karroubi and his family would like to extend their deepest apologies to all those who were forced to listen to the vulgarities expressed by official government agents.”
While reading Mehdi Karroubi’s message his adviser continued: “The events that occurred yesterday clearly demonstrate that a direct order was given by high ranking individuals from within the government and in accordance to this directive, individuals were required to demand the the trial of Mr. Karroubi and Mr. Mousavi. It is very clear that after 22 months, individuals such as Rohani, Nategh Nouri, Ghalibaf and other friends such as Abtahi have been pressured into giving interviews.”
According to Karroubi’s adviser Mojtaba Vahedi, Karroubi’s message to these individuals was as follows: “Now that you have executed the mission given to you by the government, I suggest you do something humanitarian. Ask the government to put us on a public trial. At minimum have the courage to hold a trial similar to those during the Shah’s reign, trials like those held for the late Golesorkhi, Taleghani and Bokharai in which media outlets were at least allowed to report on the trials and even publish some of the details of the defense.”
Karroubi’s adviser continued:”Mr. Karroubi said if this regime has the courage to hold a public trial, we will prove whether it is we who seek to overthrow the government or individuals from within the regime itself who have such intentions. It goes without saying however that the intention to overthrow [the government] has already begun, as this government is no longer a republic nor is it Islamic. These gentlemen overthrew the Islamic Republic long ago.The tactics by the IRIB (Iran’s International Broadcasting) demonstrated how corrupt they are and in the event that there is a trial, Mr. Karroubi does not expect for his trial to be broadcast on the national television, but hopes at minimum that newspapers and other media outlets would be allowed to cover it.”
Mehdi Karroubi’s adviser concluded: “Mr. Karroubi emphasized that a government that puts so much pressure [on its citizens], if it was courageous, if it was willing to stand by its own words and was willing to tell the truth, would hold a public trial. In the event that such trial takes place, Mr. Karroubi will prove that this government was overthrown by its own leaders and is no longer a republic, nor is it Islamic.”