HUNDREDS OF thousands of opposition protesters openly challenged the authority of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, yesterday by mourning the death of a dissident cleric who had questioned the ayatollah’s fitness to rule.
The mass turnout in Qom for the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri, who died on Sunday aged 87, came just a day after Ayatollah Khamenei had dismissed him as a figure who had failed “a big test” and ordered a security clampdown to deter mourners from paying their respects.
Instead, the event turned into the opposition Green Movement’s biggest show of strength in months. The sheer numbers – including many wearing the opposition’s signature colour of green – seemed to confirm the Islamic regime’s fears that Montazeri’s death could provide a fresh spark for the simmering discontent over Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election in June.
The authorities were powerless to stop a gathering officially meant to mourn the passing of one of the pillars of the 1979 Islamic revolution. But its overtly political nature was displayed by the presence of Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, the two defeated reformists from last summer’s poll.
Montazeri had emerged as a spiritual leader to the pair after denouncing the election as fraudulent and declaring that the current ruling regime was neither Islamic nor a republic.
The political overtones prompted clashes between mourners and security forces, with witnesses reporting that members of the pro-government Basij militia rode into the crowds on motorcycles. Teargas was said to have been fired on at least two occasions.
Hardline pro-government forces ripped up a condolence banner outside Montazeri’s house while mourners were reported to have thrown stones at police who tried to stop them chanting pro-Montazeri slogans.
Mourners responded defiantly when ordered by loudspeaker not to chant, breaking into shouts of “Ya Hossein, Mir Hossein”, in support of Mr Mousavi. When a crowd of pro-government supporters chanted back, “I will give my life for the supreme leader”, they were booed by mourners, a witness said.
The clashes occurred despite the deployment of riot police throughout Qom, a religious shrine city about 145km (90 miles) from Tehran. Political activists had been warned not to attend amid measures aimed at stopping them from travelling.
Demonstrations in favour of Montazeri – and implicitly against Ayatollah Khamenei – also took place in the former’s birthplace of Najafabad in Isfahan province.
Montazeri was once heir apparent to the Islamic revolution’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. But he was defrocked and banished from the leadership after the pair fell out when Montazeri criticised the mass killings of political prisoners in 1988. He spent six years under house arrest after questioning Ayatollah Khamenei’s religious credentials and ability to be supreme leader in 1997.
Ayatollah Khamenei responded to Montazeri’s death by saying he hoped he would be subject to “God’s lenience” after failing a “test” by disagreeing with Ayatollah Khomeini.
Hossein Bastani, an Iranian political analyst, said the protests had moved beyond anger over the election and were now aimed directly at Ayatollah Khamenei.
“The slogans people were chanting [in Qom] were indirectly against the Islamic regime and similar to what was chanted before the revolution against the Shah,” he said.
Meanwhile, the car of Mr Mousavi was attacked by “plainclothes men” on motorbikes yesterday and one member of his entourage was injured, the reformist Kaleme website reported.
Kaleme said the incident took place when Mr Mousavi was on his way back to Tehran after attending Montazeri’s funeral in Qom. It said the car’s back window was smashed in the attack. – (Guardian service, Reuters)