Zahra Mojarradi, the wife of Mohsen Mirdamadi, secretary-general of the Islamic Iran Participation Front [Hezbe Mosharekat Iran Eslami], told Rooz in an interview that the reformist detainees are facing extraordinary pressures and that the confession project is the result of a long-term plot against reformists.

She noted that several of the reformists are told that they have been investigated for nearly a decade, during which time their personal and professional lives have been under surveillance.

Regarding the first day of trials, she said, “Mr. Mirdamadi called us last night and followed up on some matters assigned to his lawyer.  He thought that the court session today would actually be about his charges.  He didn’t know what would transpire at the court.  They asked one of Mr. Mirdamadi’s lawyers to sit in the courtroom, without telling him that Mirdamadi was in the courtroom.  They told another one of his lawyers, who visited the prosecutor’s office to inquire about why he was not allowed into the courtroom, that no trial is scheduled and that he will be contacted later to review court documents.”  

This member of the Islamic Iran Participation Front emphasized, “From the perspective of violating the law, such a trial is unprecedented in the history of the Islamic Republic, because it lacks all of the basic characteristics that belong to the definition of a trial, which all trials must have.”

Commenting on the possibility of extracting confessions from reformist detainees, Mojarradi said, “Even if people who are under extreme pressure for 45 days – we all know what that entails – confess, those confessions are worthless.”