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Source: http://www.wsj.com/articles/prisoner-of-the-ayatollahs-1460676823
Prisoner of the Ayatollahs
(Wall Street Journal) Editorial - It's been nearly two years since Hassan Rouhani vowed to free the two leaders of Iran's pro-democracy movement. Such promises were at the heart of the Iranian president's "moderation" pitch, yet today both opposition leaders remain under house arrest without charge. Now one has written a public letter calling Mr. Rouhani to account. Mehdi Karroubi was a reform candidate for president in 2009's fraudulent election that saw regime favorite Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected. Millions poured into the streets to protest, and Karroubi and ally Mir Hossein Mousavi found themselves leading a mass uprising that became known as the Green Movement. "I am not asking you to lift my house arrest," Karroubi wrote. "I want you to ask the despotic regime to grant me a public trial." Rouhani lacks the authority to free the Green leaders even if he was inclined to. The puzzle is how Western powers came to imagine that Rouhani could bind such a regime to its nuclear promises.