Iran says treatment of opposition is internal affair

Mar 1, 2011, 7:29 GMT

Tehran/Berlin - Iran on Tuesday said issues related to its opposition were internal affairs and the West had no right to interfere.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast made the comments after Western governments protested the reported weekend transfers of two opposition leaders, Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, and their wives, Zahra Ranhavard and Fatemeh Karroubi, to the Heshmatieh prison in Tehran.

Opposition websites on Monday reported the transfers after Moussavi and Karroubi had been under house arrest for nearly two weeks.

The Fars news agency quoted an unnamed judiciary official as rejecting the reports and said the two opposition leaders were only under house arrest.

Mehmanparast called on the West 'to listen to the voice of the majority rather than a few of them.'

'These are internal affairs and no country has and will have any right to interfere in the decisions by the judiciary,' Mehmanparast said.

The German and US governments on Monday criticized Iran over the arrest of the two opposition politicians, saying the detentions violate their fundamental human rights.

The Iranian opposition said Monday that its protests would continue until the release of its leaders.

It planned to hold protests Tuesday and again on March 15 if the two leaders are not released.

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