Skip to main content
The Morning Star Shop
Codir joins calls for the release of incarcerated opposition leaders in Iran
Freedom now for former PM Mir-Hossein Mousavi and other political prisoners
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a meeting with a group of defense officials, in Tehran, Iran, February 12, 2025

COMMITTEE for Defence of Iranian Peoples Rights (Codir) has been  following, with growing concern, the developments under way inside Iran pertaining to protests and rallies that have been ongoing since Friday February 14.  

This date marks the 14th anniversary of the incarceration under house arrest of three of the country’s major opposition figures: former prime minister and presidential candidate, Mir-Hossein Mousavi; his wife, prominent academic Dr Zahra Rahnavard; as well as senior reformist clergyman and another former presidential candidate, Mehdi Karroubi.  

On Thursday, February 13, a large protest in front of the University of Tehran was broken up by regime security forces and dozens were detained. Security forces and agents from the Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Intelligence had already moved to arrest several figures, all central members of the Campaign to Lift the House Arrest, a reference to the continuing detention of Mousavi, Rahnavard, Karroubi and his wife, Fatemeh Karroubi. 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a meeting with judiciary officials in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Middle East / 17 July 2025
17 July 2025

The Islamic Republic is attempting to deflect from its own failures with a scapegoating campaign against vulnerable and impoverished migrants, writes JAMSHID AHMADI

Tehran 21.6.25
Features / 22 June 2025
22 June 2025

In the second of two articles, STEVE BISHOP looks at how the 1979 revolution’s aims are obfuscated to create a picture where the monarchists are the opposition to the theocracy, not the burgeoning workers’ and women’s movement on the streets of Iran

WOMEN, LIFE, FREEDOM: Protests over the death of Mahsa Amini
Features / 7 December 2024
7 December 2024
Codir general secretary GAWAIN LITTLE explains the solidarity campaign's priorities as it holds its AGM this weekend