Media close to Iran’s reformists report that former president Mohammad Khatami was prevented by security agencies to leave his house to attend a public ceremony.

A channel on social media app Telegram and two reformist websites reported on February 24 that security agents did not allow Khatami to participate in the 80th anniversary of the National Library.

Before becoming president in 1997, Mr. Khatami was the director of the library for five years.

Khatami has faced many limitations in his public activities in recent years. In October, he was prevented to leave his house to attend a private meeting with his former aides and ministers. Since then, he has virtually been under some sort of house arrest.

He has also been prevented from attending a wedding and going to the theatre. Media in Iran are not allowed to publish his name and photos.

This latest intervention to ban Mr. Khatami from a public event takes place despite the fact that a statement he made in the wake of the recent widespread protests echoed accusations of foreign plotting, coming from hardliners.

At the time, Hassan Rouhani’s vice president Eshagh Jahangiri called the statement “a defense of the system and the Supreme Leader”, praising Khatami for defending the core values of the Islamic Republic.