14 Years In Prison, Iranian Opposition Leader Mehdi Karroubi Freed

JAKARTA - Iran's opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi will be released from house arrest. Karroubi has been detained for 14 years for calling for protests to support protests that swept through the Arab world in 2011.

"My father was told by security agencies that his house arrests will end today," Hossein Karroubi's son told state news agency IRNA.

The 87-year-old sickly cleric remains challenging, questioning the legitimacy of the ulama's institution in a statement published by the pro-reforming website.

After calling for a demonstration to show solidarity with the pro-democracy uprising, Karroubi - along with former prime minister Mirhossein Mousavi and his wife Zahra Rahnavard, a prominent academic - was placed under house arrest in February 2011.

They have not been tried or charged in public.

Former spokesmans for parliament Karroubi and Mousavi ran for elections in 2009 and became puppet leaders for Iranians who staged mass protests eight months after a vote they believe was rigged to return hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Karroubi's son Hossein told a pro-reformed Jamaran news site his father demanded Mousavi's release.

"They told my father that the same process will be carried out for Mousavi in the next few months and Mousavi will also be released," the Jamaran website quoted him as saying.

Karroubis, such as Mousavi and Rahnavard, were under surveillance around the clock by security officers who initially lived in their homes.

However, Karroubi's condition has improved in recent years, with some families and politicians allowed to visit him.

Suffering from various medical complications, Karroubi was taken to the hospital several times for heart surgery and treatment.