DISSIDENT GRAND AYATOLLAH MONTAZERI SAYS LEADER IS NOT ABOVE LAWS
LONDON 13TH Jan. IPS) Grand ayatolloah Hosseinali Montazeri, one of Shi'a Muslims highest religious authority warned that if the ruling conservative clergymen continue to monopolise the powers, the Islamic revolution would face a total fiasco.
In an almost rare and unprecedented interview with foreign media, the dissident grand ayatollah who lives in Qom under house arrest conditions reiterated once again that the leader of the regime was not above any other ordinary citizen of the country, that he must obey the constitution and the law and the limit of his powers defined by the Constitution.
He also criticised the conservatives-controlled Council of the Guardians, saying that the duty of this watchdog body was to supervise the electoral process and not wet the candidates.
Ayatollah Montazeri was placed under house arrest and his classes closed in October 1997on orders of ayatollah Khameneh'i after he openly criticised both the autocratic rule and the "kingly" way of living of the present leader, observing that he had established a royal court filled with courtesans and sycophants at his orders.
In the interview that was published by the influential "Manchester and London Guardian", the former heir to leadership of the Islamic Republic noted that like any other ordinary men, the valye faqih, or the most learned juristconsul was also subject to mistakes and sins and therefore must be open to criticism and answerable for his deeds.
Mr. Montazeri was demoted by grand ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and send back to the city of Qom, the "craddle" of radical Shi'ism situated 150 Kilometres south of Tehran in 1989 after he publicly and strongly opposed and denounced mass execution of political prisoners ordered by the founder of the Islamic Republic.
According to reliable sources, between 5000 to 10.000 prisoners were executed between 1987 and 1989, the year ayatollah Khomeini passed away.
In a clear reference to ayatollah Khameneh'i who has established firm, umbilical, direct control over all strategic centres of powers, including Armed Forces, security and Intelligence services, Judiciary and the Legislative and intervenes regularly in the daily life of the government, going as far as conducting foreign affairs, Mr. Montazeri repeated that the valy should not interfere with questions outside his competence, like economic problems of foreign diplomacy.
Questioned by the Persian service of the BBC about the timing of the interview and whether it was related to the just finished session of the conservatives-controlled Assembly of Experts, Mr. Ahmad Montazeri, the younger son of the grand ayatollah said that his father had responded to questions that were faxed to him some times ago.
"Thinking that he had a moral duty to answer the questions, he therefore prepared the answers that took some days before being faxed back", the young Montazeri explained.
Mr. Montazeri denied that the detention conditions of his father had eased, saying that this was part of a malicious campaign by the authorities in order to calm the public opinion angered by the ill treatment reserved to his father.
"Ayatollah Montazeri was placed under house arrest because of the critics he addressed to them (Mr. Khameneh'i and the conservatives). This is a shame for a regime of which my father was one of the founders. Knowing this, they time to time spread rumours that he is enjoying better conditions. In fact, even today, only the closest relatives have the right to meet him or to bring doctors to his residence", the young Montazeri said, calling on the authorities to end the limitations imposed on his father.
He also said he was "unaware" of statements attributed to the former president ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in which he is reported to have said that he had never authorised any action to be taken against the grand ayatollah, noting that such declarations or other of the kind that both he (Rafsanjani) and Khameneh'i respects Mr. Montazeri "do not match" with the insulting conditions imposed on him.
"If they are sincere, why not ending the house arrest and restore my father's full freedom and possibility of medical care necessitated by his poor health?" he pointed out.
Considering the importance of the interview and its coincidence with the present situation where the Council of the Guardians has rejected the eligibility of more than 50 prominent reformist candidates, IPS presents the full text of the interview as printed by the Guardian.
Geneive Abdo in Qom Thursday January 13, 2000
The man behind profound change in Iran is the invisible resident of holy Shi'ite Muslim city.
He has been under house arrest for more than two years, exiled to his modest home on Riverbank Street.
Few dare to mention his name in public. Newspapers that print his ideas are closed or taken to court.
Fellow clerics who spread his opinions in public are imprisoned. And thousands of his disciples, the seminarians who read his books, do so clandestinely.
Now, Ayatollah Hosseinali Montazeri is tired of being silenced. In his first interview ever, according to his aides, he told the Guardian of his vision for a new Iran.
"I have spent a lifetime fighting for the independence and honour of this country, defending the rights and freedoms of the people. I have obeying to the truth my religious duty," he said in the interview.
The truth for Ayatollah Montazeri, the most powerful cleric in post-revolutionary Iran after the late ayatollah Khomeini, is terrifying for Iran's conservative clerical establishment. He interprets the Iranian constitution as giving the people the right to elect all leaders in the government, including the supreme clerical leader, now appointed by a body of theologians.
"Although some of the clerics are of the opinion that the supreme leader derives his authority from divine appointment, such opinions are subject to dispute.
"From the Koran, the book of God, one can deduce that government is a public affair," he said in the12-page interview, which was faxed to the Guardian from his home.
For many conservatives who believe in the current system whereby clerics have the power to screen candidates who run in elections, Ayatollah Montazeri's ideas threaten their political survival. His criticism of Iran's maltreatment of political prisoners forced him out of favour in 1989, after ayatollah Khomeini had designated him as his successor.
In 1987, ayatollah Khomeini was quoted as saying of Montazeri: "He is the fruit of my life. My essence is in him, not once or twice but several times."
Since his house arrest in November 1997, ayatollah Montazeri lives under constant scrutiny by two guards posted in a separate house next to his own.
Even his children are forbidden to venture out without permission from the guards. During the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ended last weekend, seminarians were allowed to visit his family, but the ayatollah was forced to remain secluded behind closed doors.
"The day I went to Montazeri's house, his son Ahmad had to get the guards' permission to go to the store to buy some yoghurt," said one seminarian and admirer.
The restrictive conditions of his arrest have eliminated him physically from the scene. The theological school he ran was closed; and the state froze his assets, virtually impoverishing the elderly cleric, born in 1922.
But his shadowy existence has made him a figure larger than life in Iran.
"In the seminaries, it is forbidden to study Montazeri's writings. One student caught reading his books was sentenced to seven years in prison. But many smuggle in his writings, which are an inspiration to us all," said one seminarian.
Ayatollah Montazeri was placed under house arrest for criticising the powers granted to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i. He also said ayatollah Khameneh'i was unfit to make religious rulings.
In the Guardian interview, he reiterated his opinions. "The leader is equal to any other person before the law. He can never be above the law, and he cannot interfere in all affairs, particularly the affairs that fall outside his area of expertise, such as economics and international relations."
But in today's Iran, ayatollah Khameneh'i regularly speaks out on relations with the west, particularly the United States. He advocates a general policy of isolationism.
Ayatollah Montazeri also criticised the clerical establishment for refusing to give more power to the president when a revision of the Iranian constitution was made in 1989, shortly after ayatollah Khomeini's death. Indeed, the limitations on President Mohammad Khatami, who was elected in a landslide in 1997, have been a major obstacle to implementing his reform programme.
"How can the president implement the constitution when the military and security forces are not under his command? Whereas all social expectations are directed at the president, and he has to respond to almost everybody, all institutions of power are under the command of the supreme leader, a leader that according to some, is above the law and therefore cannot be held accountable."
When parliament amended the election law after ayatollah Khomeini's death, giving the Guardian Council, a body of clerics, the right to supervise elections, ayatollah Montazeri said this violated the constitution.
The Guardian Council this week announced that it had eliminated key pro-reform candidates who registered to run in parliamentary polls scheduled for February 18.
"The law [constitution] is explicit on the fact that the supervisory role of the Guardian Council pertains to 'supervision over the elections' and not 'supervision over the candidates'," Ayatollah Montazeri said.
Ayatollah Montazeri is sad, not about his arrest, but at the limitations of freedom of expression in Iran. "I am very sorry to see that in the present circumstances there is no tolerance in the Islamic society for hearing anything other than what is coming out of the ruling circles, a condition in which the children of the revolution are being sent to jail."
And he apologised for having to communicate his ideas by fax and not in person. ENDS MONTAZERI TO GUARDIAN 13100