AYATOLLAH TAHERI RESIGNED, SPARKING CLASHES
ESFAHAN 9 Jul. (IPS) Heavy clashes opposed thousands of people in the central city of Esfahan to the Police and Basij volunteers after the population learned that Ayatollah Jalaleddin Taheri, the city’s popular Friday Preacher had resigned, sources told Iran Press Service.
Though the official news agency IRNA said the outspoken cleric had resign as the Friday prayers leader of Esfahan, but sources said the news sparked "instantaneous rioting" from the population.
According to IRNA, Ayatollah Taheri, who often criticises the ruling clerics for their "gross involvement" in the government’s duties, has, in a statement, invoked "old age and weakness" as the reason for his resignation from a job he had occupied for the last 30 years.
"Ayatollah Taheri apologised the nation for any possible shortcoming", IRNA said in a laconic dispatch from Esfahan, but some informed sources said he had done so to protest the killing, earlier last week, of two clerics close to the dissident Grand Ayatollah Hoseinali Montazeri.
The Grand Ayatollah, the Muslim Shi’a’s highest "source of imitation", was placed under house arrest five years ago on order from Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the lamed and unpopular leader of the Islamic Republic after Mr. Montazeri criticised openly the "kingly and luxurious" way of life of the leader and questioned his political ability and competence to run the nation. ENDS AYATOLLAH TAHERI RESIGNED 9702