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AYATOLLAH WATCH WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, 2009
Ayatollah Watch Since protests erupted in Iran after its disputed Presidential election,
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many influential Shia clerics have made statements in favor of the protesters while a few other have spoken out against them.
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Statements by Clerical Groups: Assembly of Qom Seminary Scholars and Researchers — "The voice
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of people seeking justice was marred by violence which unfortunately left several dead and wounded and hundreds arrested,” said the clerics in a July 4 statement. "How can one accept the legitimacy of the election just because the Guardian Council says so? Can one say that the government born out of these infringements is a legitimate one?" The Assembly is led by reform cleric Ayatollah Tabrizi, who has made many statements in favor of the protesters.
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▼ 2009 (1) Qom Seminary Teachers Society — The Teachers Society has congratulated Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his reelection as president,
▼ July (1) Ayatollah Watch
according to a July 4 story in the Tehran Times. However, the Teachers Society’s endorsement of the announced results has not been reported by Iran’s other state-sponsored media outlets that would normally spread the news. The powerful group approves a list
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of marjas, or grand ayatollahs, in Qom. Its members include Ayatollah Ebrahim Amini, who has made statements critical of the election results, in addition to clerics that have spoken in favor of the regime such as Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, and Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati.
For the last nine years I have written on community organizers in the United States and their negotiations with government officials. My coverage of housing for the homeless
The Guardian Council of the Constitution — The Council approved the announced election results and ruled out further elections on June 26. The Council had earlier pointed out a number of “errors” in the announced election results on June 23. The 12-member Council includes six clerics selected by the Supreme Leader including Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati; Sadegh Larijani, the brother of the politican Ali Larijani; and Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi.
was recognized with an award from the Corporation for Supportive Housing. My story predicting the national condo crash, titled “Condo Crash Coming,” was nominated for a 2005 Maggie Award from the Western Media Association. I also contributed a story to a series on bias in awarding contracts at the U.S.
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Grand Ayatollahs in Support of Protesters (alphabetical order):
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Department of Housing and Urban Development that received a 2008 Jesse H. Neal National Business
Though an exact list is hard to come by, experts agree that there are only a few dozen Grand Ayatollahs now living. Shia clerics earn the
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title of Grand Ayatollah through years of study, publishing papers and books on theological subjects, and gathering thousands or even hundreds of thousands of followers. Literally translated, grand ayatollah, or marja taqlid, means “source of emulation.” Grand Ayatollah Abdolkarim Mousavi Ardabili — “We do not have to pacify the protest by force,” said Ardabili in a meeting in late June with the Guardian Council, according to widely-quoted story from the Iranian Labour News Agency in late June. “Let the people decide who is right and who is not.” Ardabili was a close and senior aid to Ayatollah Khomeini, and was the head of the Judicial system of Iran until Khomeini,’s death. He had also established Mofid University. Grand Ayatollah Bayat-Zanjani – He issued a fatwa July 12 calling the elections illegitimate. On July 6 he said, "Every healthy mind casts doubt on the way the election was held,” according to a July 6 story in the Los Angeles Times. “More regrettable are post-election large-scale arrests, newspaper censorship and website filtering, and above all the martyrdom of our countrymen whom they describe as rioters.” Bayat-Zanjani’s Farsi-language website has recently been filled with almost daily statements like these. Bayat-Zanjani is a former chancellor of Tehran University. Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpayegani — called the election results announced by the government to be “a grand lie,” according to a June 30 story in Le Monde. Golpayegani, who was the first Secretary-General of the Guardian Council after the Revolution, met with some members of the Council and reportedly expressed regrets for what had happened. Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri — A pro-Ahmadinijad website claimed July 13 that Montazeri suffers "severe memory disorders" and asks who has written statements attributed to the Grand Ayatollah. The day before, Montazeri wrote: "Injustice is the intentional opposition to the teachings of religion, the foundations of reasonableness, and rationality, and the national accords and consensus that have become the laws of the land. The ruler who opposes these is no longer qualified to rule," in a fatwa July 12 calling the regime "un-Islamic." He earlier posted a message to, “Protest the improper performance of official repression,” according to a
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translation of a July 8 statement on his website. He has also called for three days of mourning for the death of Neda Agha-Soltan and other protesters. He has also said that, “No one in their right mind” could believe the election results,” in a statement issued June 16. Montazeri’s support for this June’s protesters is important but hardly surprising. Once the hand-picked successor to Ayatollah Khomeini, Montazeri lost favor after protesting the executions of political prisoners in the late 1980s and spent years under house arrest in the holy city of Qom after criticizing the current Supreme Leader. Grand Ayatollah Yousef Saanei — “Everyone in the past days witnessed the attacks… that maimed, murdered, and caged any number of children,” said Saanei according to a translation of a July 3 statement on his website. Saanei had already expressed his sympathy “with the families of the victims of the recent disasters.” A confidante of Ayatollah Khomeini, Saanei retired as the head of the Guardian Council in 1988. More recently, he issued a fatwa in which he declared suicide bombing as haram and a 'terrorist act.' Grand Ayatollah Jalaleddin Taheri — called the re-election of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad "illegitimate" and "tyrannical,” according to a July 1 story from Radio Free Europe. He also said the regime’s actions are sending the Islamic Republic “to a museum.” Like Montazeri, Taheri is also a powerful cleric with a history of protest. One of Ayatollah Khomeini's close friends and former Friday prayer leader of the city of Isfahan, he resigned his post in 2002 in protest over government corruption, Montezeri’s house-arrest, and the actions of militias that he called club-wielding vigilantes.
Ayatollahs in Support of Protesters (alphabetical order): Ayatollah Haj Shaykh Ebrahimi Amini — “Errors had occurred” during the election, said Amini in a June 12 statement on KhabarOnline. He called on all four Presidential candidates to “come together and give help and cooperation.” Amini is leader of Friday prayers of Qom and a politician in the Assembly of Experts. Ayatollah Hadi Ghaffari – “Young people are not praying anymore, whose fault is that? It is your fault Mr. Khamenei, it’s your fault for placing us in the same line as that lunatic Ahmadinejad,” said Ghaffari in video widely distributed on the internet. “Ahmadinejad is nobody, you should congregate with us instead of him.” Ghaffari is a hard-liner and a reported former leader of the Iranian Ansar-e Hezbollah.
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Ayatollah Hashemzadeh Harisi — "Distrust of the people is a fact and it must be confessed ," he said, according to a July 9 story on the website www.mowj.ir. Harisi is a member of the Assembly of Experts. Ayatollah Reza Ostadi — Ostadi issued a sermon July 10 criticizing the Ahmadinejad government and resigning his position as leader of Friday Prayers in the holy city of Qom, according to a story on the website www.mowj.ir. Ostadi is a member of the assembly of experts. Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani – “We declare that the result is unacceptable due to the unhealthy voting process, massive electoral fraud and the siding of the majority of the Guardian Council with a specific candidate," said Rafsanjani’s organization Kargozaran in a statement, according to a July 6 story in the Los Angeles Times. The former President and the head of Iran Council of Experts, Rafsanjani is widely credited with putting the Supreme Leader in power two decades ago. He supported Mousavi’s run for President and has been widely speculated to be maneuvering behind to scene to support Mousavi’s opposition since the election. Ayatollah Sayyed Hossein Mousavi Tabrizi — "People were peacefully protesting election results and the response to that should not be the bullet," Tabrizi told The Associated Press, according to a July 8 story. "The harsh crackdown was illogical. They could have handled it without any blood being shed." He has also said that, “Having (political) parties in any country is a prelude to establishing and strengthening democracy,” according to a June 6 story on Iran’s state -sponsored Press TV. He repeats his critique in a June 18 Farsilanguage story on parlemannews.com. He has also declared that the Guardian Council was biased and that people have a right to demonstrate in an interview with a pro-Ahmadinejad Web site. Tabrizi was chief prosecutor under Ayatollah Khomeini and a member of the Assembly of Qom Seminary Scholars and Researchers.
Ayatollahs Making Relatively Neutral Statements: Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli — “No Muslim would set on fire others’ homes and these (the rioters) are surely foreigners, ”said Amoli, according to a June 22 story in The Tehran Times. Amoli was the leader of Ayatollah Khomeini’s 1988 mission to Russia, according to coverage in the New York Times. Ayatollah Haeri-Shirazi wrote a letter to the Supreme Leader June
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24. Some commentators call the letter careful but challenging. The letter mentions Iran’s first president Abolhassan Banisadr, who was impeached and exiled because he allegedly moved against the ruling clerics. Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi — Shirazi called for “national conciliation,” in a June 25 story on Iran’s state-sponsored Press TV. “Definitively, something must be done to ensure that there are no embers burning under the ashes, and that hostilities, antagonism and rivalries are transformed into amity and cooperation among all parties.” Makarem Shirazi was appointed to the first council of Representatives and helped write Iran’s constitution, according his website. He is also a member of the Qom Seminary Teachers Society, which has congratulated Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his reelection as president, according to a July 4 story in the Tehran Times. Grand Ayatollah Ali Hussein Sistani — He has not commented on the election. However, he refused to meet with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during the president’s 2008 visit to Iraq, though Sistani has been willing to meet with other Iranian figures including Ayatollah Rafsanjani and Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani. Though Sistani lives in Iraq and rarely comments on political issues, many commentators call him one of the most influential of living Ayatollahs.
Ayatollahs Against the Protesters: Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati — “The British Embassy had a presence and some people were arrested,” said Jannati of the protests, according to a July 4 story from the BBC. "Well, inevitably they will be put on trial. They have made confessions too." As SecretaryGeneral of the Guardian Council, Jannati helped approve the announced election results June 26. Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani — “The president-elect is the president of the entire Iranian nation,” said Kani, according to a June 16 story in the Tehran Times. “The most essential issue for the country, today and every day, is maintaining unity and following the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution.” Former Prime Minister Kani is head of the conservative Association of Combatant Clerics, not to be confused with the pro-reform Combatant Clergy Association. Ayatollah Mohammad Emami-Kashani — At Friday Prayers in
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Tehran July 10, Kashani softened his tone against the protesters, though still effectively belittled their concerns. “The Parliament should rectify the election code of conduct in whatever way it deems necessary,” said Emami-Kashani, according to state sponsored Press TV. Earlier Emami-Kashani said that, "The enemy has focused on the election because it wants to find an excuse to downplay the Iranian nation's participation in the election," as leader of Tehran’s Friday prayers June 12, according to state-sponsored Press TV. "So a massive turnout in the elections is a response to the enemy and will serve Islam," He is a member of the Assembly of Experts. Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khatami — “I call on the officials of the judicial branch to deal severely and ruthlessly with the leaders of the agitations, whose fodder comes from America and Israel, so that everyone learns a lesson from it," Khatami said as he led Friday prayers in Tehran, according June 26 story on CBS News. Khatami also said that a protester who engages in "destructive acts" could be considered a mohareb, or someone who wages war against God. Khatami is a member of the Assembly of Experts. Ayatollah Morteza Moqtadaei — Moqtadaei called on the opposition to "choose silence to preserve the system,” according to a July 8 story from the Associated Press. He is deputy chairman of the Qom Seminary Teachers Society. Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi — "Those who co-operate with such websites and television channels will face prosecution,” said Shahroudi, according to a July 5 story from the BBC. Shahroudi is the head of Iran’s judiciary. In 2002 he placed a moratorium on stoning as a form of capital punishment. Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi — "Do not be worried about the events and earthquakes that have occurred. Know that God created this world as a test," Yazdi told a gathering of Revolutionary Guard commanders June 22, according to a story in the Associated Press. "The supreme leader holds a great many of the blessings God has given us and at a time of such uncertainties our eyes must turn to him." Yazdi is a member of the Guardian Council and is believed to be President Ahmadinejad's spiritual mentor. Feel free to use, post, or re-post this information any way you choose. Please let me know about any mistakes you see or any news that I have missed. PO S T E D B Y BE N D IX AN D E R S O N AT 1 1 : 2 0 PM
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