Mehdi Karroubi, an elderly Iranian opposition leader under house arrest since 2011, has been hospitalised after starting a hunger strike to support his demand for a public trial.
Opposition leaders Karroubi, Mirhossein Mousavi and his wife Zahra Rahnavard have been confined to their homes for six-and-a-half years after calling for rallies in solidarity with pro-democracy uprisings then shaking Arab countries.
They have never been put on trial or publicly charged. Both Karroubi, 80, and Mousavi, 75, suffer from ailments partly associated with their age. Karroubi has been hospitalised twice in recent weeks and underwent heart surgery.
Karroubi's son, Mohammad Taghi Karroubi, confirmed the Sahamnews website report on his Twitter account: "At 1 am Thursday father was sent to hospital due to the hunger strike. Pray a lot".
Sahamnews quoted the Shi'ite cleric's wife, Fatemeh Karroubi, as saying that he would refuse "to eat or drink until his demands are met".
Karroubi and Mousavi ran in what became a disputed 2009 election that returned hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power and triggered mass protests ultimately crushed by the elite Revolutionary Guards and its affiliated Basij militia.
The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on called on Wednesday for the immediate release of "ailing political leaders".
"Karroubi's life is in danger and the state, which has detained him without trial, is responsible for whatever happens to him while he is in its custody," CHRI executive director Hadi Ghaemi said.
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