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Iranians clash with police over cleric: press
(AFP)

8 October 2006

TEHERAN - Hundreds of people clashed with police in Teheran while protesting in support of a controversial cleric who advocates separating religion and politics, a taboo in Islamic Iran, press reports said on Sunday.

The protesters, some carrying knives, gathered around the house of Ayatollah Mohammad Kazemeini Borujerdi on Saturday to protest the arrest of a number of the Shiite cleric’s followers and restrictions imposed on him, the reformist Hambastegi and Aftab dailies said.

“The objective of my followers and myself is in defending traditional religion,” the semi-official ILNA news agency quoted Borujerdi as saying.

“We believe people have grown tired of political religion and they want to return to traditional religion,” said the ayatollah.

But the deputy head of Teheran police, Commander Nasser Shabani, accused the ayatollah of claiming to be the representative of the Shiites’ “hidden” twelfth Imam, Mahdi and misinterpreting religion.

“A person has gathered some naive people around to pledge donations and have their wishes come true, which is a sheer lie and distortion of religion,” he told ILNA.

The protesters were reportedly shouting slogans such as ”religious freedom is our right” and “freedom is our undeniable right”, and carried banners that said “we are ready to be martyred to defend traditional religion”.

His aims breach a taboo in the Islamic republic, a theocracy where the all-powerful supreme leader is a cleric chosen by a top Shiite clerical assembly.

A large number of key positions in Iran are taken by clerics, such as the head of the judiciary and members of the non-elected watchdog body, the Guardians Council, which vets all legislation and candidates for public office.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2006/October/middleeast_October138.xml&section=middleeast

Clashes in Iran to defend critical cleric: reports
ABC News - 51 minutes ago
... at 200 people or more, who had gathered on Saturday outside the home in southern Tehran of Ayatollah Mohammad Kazemeini Boroujerdi, newspapers reported. ...

RADIO FREE EUROPE / RADIO LIBERTY
RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, Czech Republic - 1 hour ago
... TEHRAN, October 7, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Several hundred supporters of an outspoken cleric in Tehran, Ayatollah Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, gathered today in the streets ...

Clashes in Iran to defend critical cleric - reports
Reuters.uk, UK - 1 hour ago
... at 200 people or more, who had gathered on Saturday outside the home in southern Tehran of Ayatollah Mohammad Kazemeini Boroujerdi, newspapers reported. ...

Clashes in Iran to defend critical cleric: reports
Washington Post, United States - 1 hour ago
... at 200 people or more, who had gathered on Saturday outside the home in southern Tehran of Ayatollah Mohammad Kazemeini Boroujerdi, newspapers reported. ...

Tehran Police Clash With Supporters Of Outspoken Cleric
Persian Journal, Iran - 15 hours ago
Several hundred supporters of an outspoken cleric in Tehran, Ayatollah Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, gathered today in the streets around his house to protest what ...

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... 2006 (RFE/RL) -- A dissident Iranian cleric who advocates the separation of religion and politics, Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, is accusing ...

Tehran Police Clash With Supporters Of Outspoken Cleric
RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, Czech Republic - 21 hours ago
TEHRAN, October 7, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Several hundred supporters of an outspoken cleric in Tehran, Ayatollah Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, gathered today in the streets ...