Iran regime on alert following death of dissident cleric Montazeri

Guardian UK ^ | Robert Tait

[nuconvert]

Thousands of mourners are gathering in the Iranian city of Qom following the death of leading reformist cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, offering protesters a fresh rallying point for confrontation with the government.

Montazeri, who died early this morning aged 87, is due to be buried at the Ma'asoumeh shrine, one of the holiest in Shia Islam, tomorrow.

The event threatened to turn into a security nightmare for the authorities amid reports that thousands were travelling from as far away as Isfahan and Najafabad, Montazeri's birthplace. Reformist websites reported that the road between Tehran and Qom was clogged with motorists heading to the funeral. Riot police were deployed throughout Qom in preparation for a mass turnout of anti-government demonstrators, while security forces surrounded Montazeri's house. The reformist website Rah-e Sabz reported that some political activists had been contacted by intelligence agents and warned that they would face arrest if they tried to attend the funeral.

[sionnsar]

ping

[AliVeritas]

ping

[StilettoRaksha]

I do hope that some of the respected/powerful clerics will eventually speak against the regime.

“...the Iranian people is asking why the clerics are not coming out against the oppression and the injustice. He reiterated his call to the clerics to use their power, their ability, and their influence against the regime - because, he said, they know all too well that the regime requires their legitimization. The regime, Montazeri told the clerics, is exploiting you, and your silence makes you its collaborators.” http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/3628.htm#_ednref1

[Cindy]

Thank you for the ping Ali Veritas.

[JasonC]

Um, he was about the last of them that actually had a religious bone in his body, instead of being a simple murdering police goon. He opposed all the recent confrontation with the west and called it excuse making and avoiding the consequences of misrule at home, etc. The last shred of Shia religious legitimacy the regime ever had, has just been buried.

[beachn4fun]

The Iranian people will never be free until they stop allowing the cleric and military to rule them. They can respect the clerics but not allow them to rule their world. Maybe their only hope is that all of the Ayatollah's die out to be replaced by submissive clerics who want to teach the word and not rule the world!