Nine Iranian lawyers residing in Iran and abroad have called for unseating Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and demanded a referendum to return the control of the country to the people of Iran.
In a statement issued on Wednesday September 4, the lawyers, said the Constitutional Law of the Islamic Republic of Iran is illegitimate, and described Khamenei's leadership as illegal.
One of the signatories of the statement, Mohammad Mostafaei, an Iranian lawyer who is based in Norway, has confirmed the authenticity of the statement in an interview with Radio Farda.
Referring to the arrest of at least 7 of the 14 Iranian women activists who have recently demanded Khamenei's resignation, Mostafaei charged that "those who have occupied positions of power in Iran have founded their castles on the blood of Iranians."
Earlier in June, 14 male activists in Iran had issued a similar call and many of them have also been arrested. Both events required tremendous courage by those involved, as arrests were certain to take place.
Mehrangiz Kar, Mehdi Houshmand Rahimi, Danial Rastin, Hossein Ahmadi Niaz, Mohammad Mostafaei, Massoud Akhtarani Tehrani, Ehsan Hosseinzadeh, Soheila Rahimi Jokandan and Mojtaba Hosseini, mainly human rights lawyers, are the signatories of the statement.
