Iran's Opposition Leaders Vanish Without a Trace

Mystery Deepens on Status of Opposition Leaders
-Neil MacFarquhar

The two main Iranian opposition leaders, Mir Hussein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, have not been seen in public or by their adult children since just before the Feb. 14 protests which they called for, ostensibly in solidarity with Arab uprisings but which quickly transformed into antigovernment rallies. The Web site Kaleme said both men and their wives were now incarcerated at Heshmatieh prison in Tehran.

"Moussavi and Karroubi may actually prove to be more effective opposition symbols in jail," said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment in Washington. "Their release will now likely become an international cause celebre."
(New York Times)
*