Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri, dies

[Al-Zakir]

A prime defender of Iran's protest movement, Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri, dies
Ceremonies and mourning for the senior dissident cleric, 87, raise the specter of turmoil as they will occur during a time of emotionally charged religious rites in Iran.
By Ramin Mostaghim



Reporting from Tehran - One of Iran's most senior dissident clerics, a staunch defender of the nation's opposition movement as well as a learned theologian and pillar of the Islamic revolution 31 years ago, has died.

Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri was 87.

His death, late Saturday, comes as Iranian protesters prepare to take part in emotionally charged rituals marking the seventh century martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and a highly revered figure within Iran's majority Shiite Muslim faith.

The anticipated ceremonies around Montazeri's death could further galvanize a protest movement seemingly driven, in large part, by raw emotion over perceived injustice.

Adding to the potential for unrest, the seventh day following Montazeri's death -- a day that holds religious significance in Islam -- will fall on Ashoura, the often-frenzied culmination of lamentation rituals during the sacred month of Muharram, when Shiites pour into the streets to beat their chests and weep in ritual mourning of Imam Hussein.

Already today, the road leading south out of the capital was clogged with traffic as opposition supporters headed to the shrine city of Qom, about 60 miles to the south, to pay their respects. Residents and students in the city of 1 million began text messaging and e-mailing friends in the capital to invite them to stay at their homes overnight.

Weeping clerics and seminary students overflowed Montazeri's home, extending condolences and grieving, according to two clerics reached by telephone. On the restive campuses of Tehran, students gathered to mourn Montazeri upon learning of his death, as seen in online videos. The main market and schools of the grand ayatollah's hometown of Najafabad, a city of 350,000, shut down as residents headed to Qom. Reformist websites reported that Iranians from all over the country planned to descend on Qom for the funeral ceremony Monday.

"Ayatollah Montazeri will be remembered in the history of Iran as brave, open-minded and willing to say the truth at any time, even when encountering danger," Fazel Maybodi, a mid-ranking reformist cleric and a well-known disciple of Montazeri, said in a telephone interview from Qom.

"He was a faithful source of emulation in Islamic jurisprudence who initiated a huge change in the mentality and attitudes of the senior clergy," he said. "He braved all threats and dangers to honor his commitment as a senior cleric."

State-controlled television carried minimal coverage of Montazeri's death while reformist websites flooded the Internet with photographs of ongoing mourning ceremonies, minute-by-minute developments and remembrances. In the last months of his life, Montazeri offered religious approval to those opposing the government, urging fellow clergy to stand with the Iranian people just as it had in the face of all "oppressive" regimes.

"The regime has savagely suppressed million-strong protesters who were legally objecting to the election outcome," he wrote in September.

"The grand ayatollahs are well aware of their influence on the regime, and they know quite well the regime needs their approval for its legitimacy," he continued. "Their silence may give the wrong impression to people that the grand ayatollahs approve of what is underway."

Montazeri, born in 1922, pursued his religious studies in the seminaries of Qom. The scholar and theologian organized clergy to oppose the monarchical regime of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, spending several years in prison during the 1970s.

After the 1979 revolution, he was the designated successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, until a falling out in the late 1980s over major political differences.

Cast out of Iran's inner circle of power and stripped of his official posts, Montazeri over the last 20 years became an outspoken critic of the Islamic Republic, calling for greater democracy and respect for human rights and civil liberties while often being kept under surveillance in conditions that resembled house arrest.

Nonetheless, he served as an influential spiritual guide to the reform movement that peaked in the late 1990s during the presidency of Mohammad Khatami.

His stature and relevance further rose in the months following Iran's disputed June presidential elections, when he became a strong advocate for the opposition movement and challenged the Islamic Republic's legitimacy.

"A system that has been acting under the aegis of Islam and has the honor to be Shiite has created distrust toward Islam and religion not only in the world, but also among [our own] people and our young generations," he wrote in a letter posted to a reformist website in September. The system "has depicted Islam as unable to implement justice in society."

In November, he told members of the pro-government Basiji militia that their violence against demonstrators was not religiously sanctioned.

"It would be a misfortune to go to hell for the sake of the worldly desires of others," he said, according to reformist websites.

The Iranian human-rights group founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi honored Montazeri with one if its annual awards earlier this month.

Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency said that Ayatollah Yousef Sanaii, another cleric who supports the opposition, was by Montazeri's side as he died. His doctor told state television he died of complications from diabetes. Montazeri's son, Ahmad, told the Iranian Labor News Agency that his father died in his sleep late Saturday at his home in Qom.

He will likely be buried in Qom's shrine of Fatemeh Masoumeh, the second-holiest site in Iran, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

A prime defender of Iran's protest movement, Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri, dies -- latimes.com

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un. May Allah rest his soul in eternal peace

[Lady Macbeth]

Clashes at Montazeri ceremony, Iran opposition says

Iranian security forces have clashed with opposition supporters in the city of Isfahan, opposition websites say.
Activists said police used tear gas and batons to disperse people gathering to commemorate Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri, who died at the weekend.
Security forces reportedly surrounded the home of an ayatollah who organised the memorial service.
On Monday, tens of thousands of mourners attended Montazeri's funeral in the holy city of Qom.
Many of them shouted anti-government slogans.
The US has accused Iran of behaving like a "police state".

'Fiercely confronted'
The funeral saw reports of clashes between security forces and mourners - with confrontations continuing in Qom on Tuesday.
State television reported that government supporters staged counter-demonstrations on Tuesday and Wednesday in Qom.


DEFIANT CLERIC

Reformists say there has also been unrest in Montazeri's home city of Najafabad over the past two days.
Footage sent to the BBC from Najafabad shows crowds chanting "Criminals, rapists, death to the leadership" and "We're not afraid, we're not afraid" as security men watch from the rooftops.
The sender says the footage, which has not been independently verified, was shot in the main mosque.
BBC Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne says the confrontations are all part of a build-up to a big series of demonstrations expected at the weekend.
He says that Isfahan and Najafabad are known as quite religiously conservative cities, which shows the breadth of the opposition to the government.
The authorities have not yet confirmed the unrest in Isfahan, but the country's police chief warned on Wednesday that opposition protests would not be tolerated.
"We advise this movement to end their activities," the semi-official Fars news agency quoted Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam as saying.
"Otherwise those who violate the order will be fiercely confronted, based on the law."
However, our correspondent says that these threats do not seem to have much effect, because when people get beaten up it just angers them more and they still come out on the streets.
White House spokesman Philip Crowley said on Wednesday that Iran was "increasingly showing itself to be a police state".
He added: "It is using all of its levers, all of its various security elements to try to stamp out clearly the aspirations of the Iranian people.
"And yet the people keep on finding a way to exercise their universal rights of freedom of assembly, freedom of speech."

Beaten savagely
In Isfahan, witnesses told the BBC that people had gathered at the main mosque for the memorial service, but when they arrived the doors were closed and security forces told them to leave.
"Little by little some clashes broke out and security used tear gas and pepper gas," one witness said.
"They took people in the shops and beat them up mostly out of public vision although some beatings happened outside on the streets."

Another witness, who gave his name as Soheil, said security officers "beat people savagely" and did not care if the people were "women, men, old or young".
It had taken about two hours to disperse the crowd, he said.
The Rahesabz website said hundreds of police and plain-clothes security officers were involved.
Another reformist website, Parlemannews, said more than 50 people had been detained.
It said the home of Ayatollah Jalaleddin Taheri, who organised the memorial, had been surrounded by plainclothes security agents.
"I tried six different ways to get to the mosque but they were all blocked," Parlemannews quoted him as saying.
Reports are difficult to verify independently as foreign journalists have been restricted since the unrest that followed June's disputed presidential election.
The grand ayatollah's funeral in Qom was attended by several leading opposition figures, including Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Mr Mousavi, who came second in the presidential election, has been an outspoken critic of the current government and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
On Tuesday, Mr Mousavi was dismissed as head of the Council for Cultural Revolution, an arts institution affiliated to the president's office.
In recent days, hardliners have urged Iran's judiciary to put Mr Mousavi on trial for instigating unrest.

BBC News - Clashes at Montazeri ceremony, Iran opposition says

[Al-Zakir]

Originally Posted by Lady Macbeth

Clashes at Montazeri ceremony, Iran opposition says

That just not right.

How low will we go.....

[Solid Beast]

A brave man and the only Ayatollah that I can say Rest in Peace to.

[Lady Macbeth]

Iran Bans Memorials For Montazeri In Wake Of Violence



TEHRAN, Iran — Iran banned memorials for the country's most senior dissident cleric and reiterated a stern warning to the opposition Thursday, after days of services in honor of the spiritual leader turned into street protests against the government.

A commemoration had been planned for Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri in the town of Kashan, 135 miles south of Tehran, according to reformist Web sites.

But a large banner was put up in the town proclaiming that the Supreme National Security Council has banned any memorials for Montazeri except in the holy city of Qom and the cleric's hometown of Najafabad. The Web site Parlemannews carried a photo of the banner in Kashan.

The death on Sunday of the 87-year-old Ali Montazeri, a sharp critic of Iran's leaders, has given a new push to opposition protests, which have endured despite a heavy security crackdown since disputed presidential elections in June.

Iran has been in turmoil since the vote, which the opposition alleges Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won by fraud.

On Wednesday, a memorial for Montazeri in the central city of Isfahan turned into anti-government demonstrations, and mourners clashed with riot police. At least 50 were arrested, according to reformist Web sites. Security forces and hard-line militiamen assaulted the crowd gathered at Isfahan's main mosque for Wednesday's memorial, beating men and women and firing tear gas to disperse them. The reports could not be independently confirmed since authorities have banned foreign media from covering protests.

The funeral procession for Montazeri in Qom on Monday also turned into a rally against the government.

The memorials have brought out not only the young, urban activists who filled the ranks of earlier protests, but also older, more religious Iranians who revered Montazeri on grounds of faith as much as politics.

Conti...

[Lady Macbeth]

Conti...

And the government has started moving for the first time against clerics who support the opposition – in Isfahan, pro-government Basij militiamen on Wednesday surrounded the house and office of two prominent religious figures, shouting slogans and breaking windows, opposition Web sites reported.

Montazeri's death comes as Iran marks one of the most important periods on the Shiite religious calendar, the first 10 days of the Islamic month of Moharram, a time of mourning rituals for a revered Shiite saint. The period culminates on Sunday with Ashoura – a day that coincides with the seventh day after Montazeri's death, a traditional day of further commemorations.

There are concerns those seven-day commemorations could fuel greater protests, especially after Iran's police chief, Gen. Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, on Wednesday threatened tougher action against protesters.

On Thursday, state TV Web site carried another Ahmadi Moghaddam warning, saying police will take a "harsh approach" against those who commit "violations that lead to disorder." The measures, he was quoted as saying, include detentions of the leaders in violent demonstrations.

Scores have been arrested in the postelection turmoil and mass trials are under way against more than 100 leading moderates, opposition figures and supporters who have disputed Ahmadinejad's re-election.

In the latest trial, Abdollah Ramazanzadeh, a former government spokesman who became an opposition supporter, was sentenced to six years in prison, the semiofficial Fars news agency said Thursday.

Ramazanzadeh, who served until 2004 as spokesman under reformist President Mohammad Khatami, was charged with fomenting unrest in order to topple the ruling system. The special court found him guilty of "acts against national security, propagating against the Islamic establishment and keeping classified documents," according to Fars.

Also Thursday, the Central Bank of Iran urged businesses, traders and the public not to accept bank notes smeared with anti-government graffiti.

Bank director in charge of local currency matters, Ebrahim Darvishi, asked people to "avoid accepting bank notes with extra words." He said banks would not accept such notes as of from Jan. 7.

Bank notes with anti-government slogans have surfaced since June election across Iran. In October, CBI governor Mahmoud Bamani said writing slogans on money would be considered a crime.

Iran Bans Memorials For Montazeri In Wake Of Violence