Free Republic

Mideast: As the death of a dissident cleric spawns renewed protests, Sen. John Kerry seeks to make nice with the oppressors of those who truly deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. How about regime change, Senator? The death toll from the brutal suppression of the latest round of Iranian protests against their government has reached double digits. We wonder if the senator still wants to be the highest U.S. official to visit Tehran since U.S. hostages were held for 444 days by the very same regime. To Kerry and this administration, the problem is one of mistrust and misunderstanding. Come, let...

Washington, 28 December (WashingtonTV)-Iranian authorities have declared martial law in the city of Najafabad, the hometown of the dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who died last week, a pro-reform website reported on Sunday. The Rahesabz website said that at 9 pm local time [17:30 GMT], security forces used loudspeakers to announce martial law and asked citizens not to leave their homes. The declaration was the first since the 1978-79 Islamic revolution overturned the former Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The declaration came as security forces clashed with protesters across Iran, who were making use of the Shiite holy day...

Today, the Islamic regime in Iran faces what could be a perfect storm. A respected opposition leader is being mourned, it is the most holy day of the year for Shiites, and the pro-democracy Green Movement is more energized and radicalized than ever. The spirit of liberation is alive and well. ...One of our New Year's wishes is that peaceful change comes to Iran, but the regime will do everything in its power to prevent that from happening. Hopefully the reform movement will reach critical mass before the Islamic regime's nuclear program does.

Demonstrations in Esfahan and Najafabad are evidence that the opposition movement has spread beyond Tehran to include a broad cross-section of people in central Iran. Esfahan and Najafabad were the "spiritual capitals" of the late Montazeri, said Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, a Tehran analyst and journalist who strongly supports the opposition movement. The harsh crackdown against Montazeri's supporters has the potential to drive them deeper into the opposition camp. "What has happened was a religious reaction out of devotion and conviction" to Montazeri, he said. "While on the surface the unrest has no relation with the political agenda of the green [opposition]...

When I first encountered the Persian word mofangi, I struggled to grasp its meaning. It implies a certain timidity, physical weakness, and awkwardness. Seeking to put some flesh on that definition, my language tutor told me to envision Grand Ayatollah Hosein Ali Montazeri. "He's more than a little mofangi," remarked the tutor, expressing the condescension that well-educated, leftwing Iranians often have for the clergy who stole their revolution. That was in the mid 1980s, and Montazeri was the number two cleric in Iran, a mullah who once passionately believed in exporting Iran's revolutionary tumult and was instrumental in building the...

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.

Iranian security forces violently suppressed opposition supporters in the city of Isfahan yesterday as tensions increased before nationwide demonstrations planned for this weekend. Two days after massive demonstrations in the holy city of Qom, clashes erupted in Isfahan, Iran’s third city, as thousands of mourners gathered for a memorial service for Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the opposition’s spiritual leader, who died at the weekend. Opposition websites said riot police and Basij militiamen surrounded the Seyed mosque from early in the morning, and then attacked the mourners with batons, teargas and pepper gas. Many were injured and dozens were arrested,...

Heavy clashes have been reported outside an Isfahan mosque where a memorial ceremony was due to be held in honor of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a founding architect of the Iranian Revolution and spiritual father of Iran's opposition Green Movement. The clashes come two days after a funeral ceremony for the 87-year-old Montazeri, who died on December 19 in his home in Qom, turned into a huge antigovernment protest in the holy city located southwest of the capital. Eyewitnesses tell RFE/RL that as mourners and opposition supporters arrived for today's memorial service, they found security forces and plainclothes agents...

Iranian security forces armed with batons and teargas clashed with supporters of the late dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri in two central cities on Wednesday, opposition websites said. (excerpt) Police chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moqadam warned the pro-reform opposition of "fierce" confrontation if it continued its "illegal" activities, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. The reformist Jaras website said many demonstrators were injured and arrests were made during clashes in the city of Isfahan, which occurred when Montazeri supporters gathered for the traditional third day of mourning for him. "Police fired teargas to disperse people ... many people were injured...

The Iranian regime hit back viciously last night after the opposition turned the funeral of their spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, into another huge anti-government demonstration in the holy city of Qom. Men on motorbikes attacked the car carrying Mir Hossein Mousavi, the opposition leader, back from Qom to Tehran. They smashed the back window and injured one of his aides, a reformist website reported. Hundreds of government agents halted the memorial service for Montazeri, according to a conservative website. The assaults, which cannot be independently confirmed, came at the end of a day when the so-called Green...

The political opposition in Iran says hundreds of thousands of people turned out for the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri. The dissident cleric, who died Sunday at the age of 87, had been a spiritual guide for opponents of the government. Some in the funeral procession held aloft the green banners of the opposition movement, while others chanted anti-government slogans. Security forces were present along the route, and there are reports of isolated fighting between some of the police and protesters. The crowds came from across Iran to the holy city of Qom to attend the burial of...

Opponents of Iran's most senior dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri stopped his memorial service in a tumultuous day in Qom on Monday which saw huge protests and some shots fired, websites said. The car of Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi was attacked by "plainclothes men" on motorbikes as he was returning to Tehran from the service in Qom and one member of his entourage was injured, one of the websites said. The incidents came after huge crowds of Iranians marked Montazeri's funeral in the holy city, 125 km (80 miles) south of Tehran. Websites reported scuffles between mourners...

Iran's opposition seized upon the death of one of the Islamic republic's founding fathers -- a revered ayatollah who was also a fierce critic of the nation's leadership -- to take to the streets in mourning. Tens of thousands of Iranian mourners--many chanting protest slogans--joined the funeral procession Monday for Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who had described government crackdowns as the work of power-hungry despots. Iranian authorities have barred foreign media from covering the processions in the holy city of Qom for Ayatollah Montazeri, who died Sunday at age 87. But witnesses said many mourners shouted protest cries including...

Hundreds of thousands of mourners turned out in Iran's holy city of Qom on Monday for the funeral of top dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri. Opposition supporters chanted anti-government slogans in Iran's holy city of Qom on Monday after the funeral of Ayatollah Montazeri. Mourners wearing green items, a symbol of the protests that followed last June's presidential election, chanted slogans similar to those used in the post-ballot demonstrations. There were clashes between hardline pro-government vigilantes and mourners, reports said. "Ansar Hezbollah groups entered the crowd and wanted to derail the slogans and disrupt the ceremony. They went...

Tens of thousands of Iranian mourners — many chanting protest slogans — joined the funeral procession Monday for the country's most senior dissident cleric, who had described government crackdowns as the work of power-hungry despots.

One of Iran's most prominent dissident clerics, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, has died aged 87. Hossein Ali Montazeri was a moving spirit in the 1979 revolution which created Iran's Islamic state, and was at one stage set to become its leader. His fierce criticism of the slaughter by Khomeini in his prisons - ended in his being "banned" and theoretically "demoted". Announcing his death, the Mullah regime refused to even give him an Ayatollah title let alone his true Grand Ayatollah one, mentioning him only by his name. One of Shia Islam's most respected figures, he was also a...

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...

Iran's senior dissident cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, has died aged 87, official media reported. Montazeri was an architect of the 1979 Islamic revolution who fell out with the present leadership and was under house arrest for some years. "Hossein Ali Montazeri passed away in his home last night," the official IRNA news agency said in a report that did not mention his title. He lived in the holy Shiite Muslim city of Qom, south of Tehran. In August, he described the clerical establishment as a "dictatorship", saying the authorities' handling of street unrest following a disputed presidential election...

One of Iran's most prominent dissident clerics, Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri, has died aged 87. Hoseyn Ali Montazeri was a moving spirit in the 1979 revolution which created Iran's Islamic state, and was at one stage set to become its leader. One of Shia Islam's most respected figures, he was also a leading critic of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The BBC's Jon Leyne says the death comes at a crucial time in a standoff between the government and opposition. Iran's rulers will now fear the opposition may attempt a big turnout for his funeral on Monday and other ceremonies marking...

Questions asked of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri of Iran on his website....... In your opinion: What were the achievements of the (SoG)Movement over recent months? What are the factors that could stop the movement from expansion and make the way harder for them. What are the ways that would strengthen, safe-guard and protect the movement? What do you suggest to make the movement grow and blossom?” 1. The (SoG) Movement is the real representation of the legitimate demands of the majority of the Iranian nation, over many years. Although until now it has been facing the rough and extreme retaliation of...