Word: ayatullah
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...Grand Ayatullah Hossein Ali Montazeri was known as Iran's defiant cleric, first in challenging the autocratic rule of the Shah, and then later in confronting the very revolution he had helped foment. Now, the big question in Tehran is whether his sudden death of natural causes will catalyze a broader showdown between the regime and the opposition Green Movement...
...Montazeri, who died at 87 in the holy city of Qom, was one of only a handful of grand ayatullahs in Shi'ite Islam. Having once been designated to succeed the revolution's founder, Grand Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, as Supreme Leader, his outspoken criticism of the regime gave cover and legitimacy to the opposition Green Movement - and infuriated a theocracy ruled by his clerics of lesser rank. (See pictures of the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri...
...students in Tehran press the latest round of protests into a second week, the late Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini is emerging to play a role in Iran's unsettled politics. Soon after the demonstrations started, on Dec. 7, a video on state television showed an unidentifiable person tearing up a poster of Iran's revolutionary father figure. The Iranian media erupted with accusations. Conservative papers called for opposition leaders' heads, while reformist papers alleged that the video was manufactured by the regime to justify its attacks on protesters. Indeed, a website affiliated with opposition leader and former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein...
...scapegoat." The newspaper Abrar, part of the beleaguered reformist media, wondered aloud what punishment would have befallen a newspaper like itself if it had displayed an image of revolutionary desecration like the one being repeatedly shown on state television. (Additionally, a video of pictures of Khomeini, Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad being set afire is circulating outside of Iran. Unlike the torn-poster video, however, the fire video has not been shown on Iranian television.) Even the Imam Khomeini Works Institute, situated in downtown Tehran and dedicated to preserving the writings and speeches of Khomeini, criticized...
While not all Iranians remember Khomeini fondly, and most of the youth barely remember him at all, the late Ayatullah seems to be inching closer to the center of the political crisis in Iran. This is likely because, as with most revolutionary leaders in history, what Khomeini symbolizes to the country and its political system has become more important than what he actually did. (See the top 10 news stories...