Daughters of Iran's Mousavi barred from visiting him

AFP, The daughters of Mir Hossein Mousavi claimed Thursday they were barred from visiting him and their mother despite top judiciary officials saying Iran's opposition leader was at home and not jailed.

In an open letter posted on Mousavi's website, Kaleme.com, the daughters said they were not allowed by security personnel to meet their parents when they went to the opposition leader's Tehran residence on Wednesday.

"We read the news that our parents are not under house arrest and they are not prisoners... which meant that we, their children, can see them," the letter from the unnamed daughters said.

"But this was not the case. We went to our parents' home, and from the iron gate installed at the entrance of the alley to their home we were stopped by the security, who said that 'you can't go, the news (that you can visit) is wrong'".

"We did not see our parents and did not hear their voices. We are concerned by all these discrepancies (in news reports)," they added.

On Wednesday, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi dismissed earlier claims by family members of Mousavi and fellow opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi that the two men and their wives had been jailed in a prison in the capital.

He said these claims were a "sheer lie", and that even saying Mousavi and Karroubi were under house arrest was "incorrect."

"Mr Mousavi and Karroubi, along with their wives, are in their homes," Dolatabadi said, a statement which was categorically backed by Iran's prosecutor general, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie.

Ejeie told state news agency IRNA Wednesday that the four were "at their homes," but he added that "some communication restrictions have been implemented against them."

In recent weeks contradictory reports have emerged regarding the whereabouts of the opposition leaders and their wives, with their family members insisting they were being held in jail, while officials denied it.

Mousavi and Karroubi, who lost to hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the 2009 presidential election, strongly oppose his government and have since guided a string of protests against him.

Their supporters have staged fresh anti-government protests on three days since February 14, the latest being on Tuesday. The protests have infuriated regime-backers, with lawmakers even calling for the two men to be hanged.