The way the Iranian state has treated the family of one member of the Nehzat Azadi leadership (Freedom Movement of Iran), Gholamabbas Tavassoli, is a shameful example of how the state treats members of the opposition.

Mr. Tavassoli was initially charged on fake crimes and then put in a solitary prison cell. Then he was released, because those who put him behind bars could not find any reasonable evidence that he had in any way participated in organizing protests against the state. But soon the authorities of the Islamic republic turned up their pressures on this old political group, forcing it to announce that it was temporarily suspending its activities. In line with that, it is now two months that Tavassoli’s family members have been subjected to immense pressures to break him and his will.

Tavassoli’s daughter and son in-law, along with other members of the IDM, including Ibrahim Yazdi the detained secretary general of the group, are all under pressure for the group to completely and definitively end its activities.

But these actions by the regime demonstrate its moral decadence as it is willing to take literally any action and even harm families and old people for its own goals. In which culture and system are women subjected to pay for the rightful political activities of their parents?

These inhuman and amoral actions come after some of the members of the FMI were arrested and then released, clearly showing that authorities lacked any evidence or any signs that the group was active or leading the massive popular protests of the last few months in Iran.

Authorities of the Islamic republic have to be aware that even if the FMI renounces all of its activities and dissolves itself, the Green Movement will continue on its path and that the network of the members and supporters of the FMI will not be destroyed but will relaunch its activities at the appropriate moment.

One should not forget that the members of the leadership of the FMI were all arrested and imprisoned before the 1979 revolution as well, but the moment the previous regime collapsed, they not only returned to political activism, but even formed the major part of the first government after the revolution.