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Khomeini Kin Assails Fundamentalist Rule September 26, 2003 The Associated Press George Gedda WASHINGTON -- The grandson of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, symbol of Iran's Islamic revolution, said Friday his countrymen live in a depressed state that will persist until they are freed from strict fundamentalist rule. Hossein Khomeini, who bears some resemblance to the man who launched the uprising against the pro-American shah's government 24 years ago, said the lack of organized resistance to the mullah-led system makes him pessimistic about the prospects for change in his homeland. "The Iranian people want democracy," Khomeini said. "Religion and government...

The black turbans' 'counterrevolution' By Mustafa El-Labbad Aug 15, 2003 The Iranian regime faces a challenge from new quarters. In an unexpected outburst, Hussein Khomeini, grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, lashed out against the ruling theocracy Hussein Khomeini has added fuel to an already fiery domestic situation in Iran, with his vehement attack on the "rule of the clerics", the underlying principle of government in Iran since shortly after that country's Islamic Revolution in 1979. Moreover, Hussein's words should be assessed with regard of the added weight of the lineage factor in a...

A Grandson’s Remarks Hint at Unrest in Iran And Iraq August 11, 2003 EurasiaNet Nicolas Birch The image of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of Iran’s theocracy, looks down from posters in Shia districts of Baghdad. Iran, officially neutral in the US-led invasion of Iraq, has bristled when American President George W. Bush has warned it against interfering in Iraq’s post-invasion chaos. But an August 5 statement by Khomeini’s 45-year-old grandson, Sayyid Hussein Khomeini, shows how that chaos can have Iran’s ruling clerics on the defensive. "Iranians insist on freedom, but they are not sure where it will come from," Khomeini...

Special Dispatch - Iran/Reform in the Arab and Muslim World August 6, 2003 No. 548 To view this Special Dispatch in HTML format, please visit: http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD54803 Ayatollah Khomeini's Grandson: 'Iran Needs Democracy and Separation of Religion and State;' 'The Iranian Regime Is the World's Worst Dictatorship' The London-based Arabic-language daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported that Hussein Khomeini, the grandson of the founder of Iran's Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini, had left his place of residence in Iran's holy Shi'ite city of Qom to relocate to Iraq's holy Shi'ite city of Najaf, which is traditionally the seat of the highest Shi'ite religious...

Khomeini's grandson says... "IF ALIVE, AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI WOULD ALSO JOIN THE PROTESTERS" AMSTERDAM 3 Aug. (IPS) "If my grandfather would be alive now, he would have joined the rank of all the Iranians opposed to the present regime", a Dutch newspaper quoted Hojjatoleslam Hoseyn Khomeini, the nephew of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran as having stated. In an interview carried Saturday by the Amsterdam-based "NCR Handelsblad", the nephew of the founder of the present Islamic Republic of Iran who now lives in Baghdad also expressed the hope to see the ongoing popular protest movement against the regime...