Iran opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi allowed brief family visit

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REPORTING FROM TEHRAN — Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi, who has been under house arrest for eight months, was allowed a brief visit with his family last week to celebrate his birthday, according to his son.

‘My father arrived at our doorstep accompanied by six security agents,” Mohammed Hossein Karroubi said in a statement posted Saturday on the Saham News site (link in Persian) “Though he had lost some weight, he was nevertheless in great spirits.”

The younger Karroubi also posted a photograph on his Facebook page (text in Persian) showing the cleric seated on a sofa, surrounded by family members.

‘Seeing him after eight months transformed our small family gathering into a memorable and auspicious night,’ Mohammed Karroubi wrote, according to a translation provided by Reuters.

The senior Karroubi has been under house arrest since he and fellow opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi called for a rally in February in support of the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. The two men ran against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the widely disputed 2009 presidential election, which gave rise to Iran’s so-called green reform movement.

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— Ramin Mostaghim