Free Republic

The name of Iranian ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi is little known outside his own country, which is unfortunate. Ayatollah Boroujerdi has been held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison since 2006. Boroujerdi, aged 50, is an heir to a distinguished Shia clerical family. He was born in Tehran and educated in the Shia religious center of Qom. Like his father, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Ali Kazemeyni Boroujerdi (1924-2002), Boroujerdi preaches the pre-Khomeini interpretation of Iranian Shiism, which calls for religion to be kept apart from politics. His health has been badly affected by the conditions of his imprisonment, yet he...

Ayatollah Boroujerdi (son of the prominent shia cleric Seyyed Mohammad Ali Kazemeini Boroujerdi) has been sentenced to death together with 17 of his followers. The secular ideology of this Shia cleric is that the “Hidden Imam” is the only one who has the legitimate competence to rule and pass judgment based on Islam, not the “Supreme Leader” and other self pro-claimed “Marjas” (Council of Guardian) who have the ultimate power in Iran, one after the other above the mostly symbolic president and parliament. The popularity of Kazemeini made the regime very uncomfortable last year after many speeches he gave against...