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Mon 12 Dec 2009Iranians gather to mourn death of dissident ayatollah
THOUSANDS OF Iranians gathered yesterday in the holy city of Qom to mourn Grand Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri, the country’s most prominent dissident cleric and harshest critic of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
His death from natural causes at 87 was announced by his family early in the day. But the authorities, fearing demonstrations against the regime by the opposition Green Movement, withheld the news for 10 hours. He will be buried today at the shrine of Hazrate Masoumen, a female saint revered by Shias.
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