Detained opposition leaders allowed vetted TV: Iran media

Iranian opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have been allowed limited satellite television after more than eight years of house arrest for leading mass protests, reports said Wednesday.

Mousavi, 77, and Karroubi, 81, were reformist candidates in the controversial election of 2009, which was won by hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

They claimed the vote was rigged, triggering months of mass protests, particularly in Tehran. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets in the biggest challenge to the system since the Islamic revolution of 1979.

"Security forces ... have said we can install satellite (dishes) for the detainees," Iran's ILNA news agency quoted Mehdi Karroubi's son, Mohammad Hossein as saying.

"But they have left very few channels open. These are limited to only some Persian-language news channels," he added.

Mousavi's daughter, Narges, told reformist news agency Jamaran on Monday that his parents had been granted the same access.

The pair were placed under house arrest without trial in February 2011, along with Mousavi's high-profile wife, Zahra Rahnavard, 66.

Rahnavard was recently allowed to freely use a mobile phone, her daughter told Jamaran.

According to Karroubi's son, his father does not currently have a mobile phone but his mother has been allowed to have one in the house.

"It should not be imagined that after eight years, the families of those under house arrest are excited because of this small opening," he said.

"We have objections and consider this house arrest to be illegal.