Baku, Azerbaijan, April 30
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi underwent a heart angiography procedure.
Mousavi who has been held under house arrest for more than three years, was taken to hospital on April 29 for urgent heart complications, Iranian opposition Kaleme website reported.
The former prime minister is currently being held at Tehran's Heart Hospital's intensive care unit. His family was not allowed to accompany him.
It's the fifth time Mousavi has been admitted to hospital due to heart problems since his house arrest.
The opposition leaders Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have been under house arrest since 2011 due to protests against the 2009 disputed presidential election.
In 2009, after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president of Iran for the second term, the opposition leaders protested the decision, which later resulted in massive protests across Iran, in particular in Tehran. Many people were arrested.
Iranian hardliners argue that the opposition leaders should remain under house arrest until they "repent."
Iran's Prosecutor General Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei accused the opposition leaders of "destruction of public property", claiming that they are also responsible for the people killed.
On February 11, Mohseni Ejei said "Their house arrest will not be lifted before they agree to repent."
In mid-March the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon accused Iranian president Hassan Rouhani of not fulfilling campaign promises to allow greater freedom of expression and called for the release of political prisoners in Iran including Karroubi and Mousavi.
However, Mohammad Baqer Nobakh, spokesman for Iran's administration said the administration of President Rouhani is pursuing the release of the jailed opposition leaders as well as political prisoners.