RESALAT DAILY CALLS FOR ENDING AYATOLLAH MONTAZERI’S HOUSE ARREST
By Safa Haeri
PARIS 21 Jan. (IPS) Grand Ayatollah Hoseynali Montazeri has called on
high-ranking Iranian clerics to give a positive answer to increasing demands
from lawmakers, political personalities and senior clergymen calling an
immediate end to his house arrest, according to his son, Hojjatoleslam Ahmad
Montazeri.
The unprecedented demand came as the conservative daily "Resalat" also urged the authorities to free Mr. Montazeri, Iran’s and the world’s 200 millions Shi’ites highest religious leader and for a time was heir-designate to the leader of the Islamic revolution, Grand Ayatollah Roohollah Khomeini.
The dissident Grand Ayatollah, who is in eighties and reported to be in very poor health conditions, was confined to his residence in the city of Qom in October1997 on orders from Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, after he criticised both the political leadership and religious credentials of the leader of the Islamic Republic.
Last Friday, Ayatollah Jalaleddin Taheri, the former Friday Preacher of Esfahan, wrote a letter to Iranian ayatollahs, strongly protested the situation of Mr. Montazeri, urging them to press the authorities to put an end to his house arrest.
"Is expressing one’s views and criticising the state a reason for jail and limitation of freedoms in Islam? Is it possible to reconcile with Saddam (Hoseyn, the Iraqi dictator) but not with a confirmed and absolute source of imitation?" Ayatollah Taheri asked, warning that observing silence, remaining idle and preying in isolation is "disgraceful" and a humiliation for the doctors of religion.
Also more than one hundred reformist members of the Majles, in a letter to Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Khatami, who, as President, is also the Chairman of the Supreme Council for National Security, urged him to end civil limitations imposed on the Grand Ayatollah.
"Continuation of house arrest for Mr. Montazeri, who seriously ill, is not without creating difficulties and needs a quick and thorough revision of the case", the paper warned, noting that limiting the religious and intellectual current related to Mr. Montazeri could be achieved by other and less costly means.
Political analysts observed that this is the first time that a newspaper that reflects the views of the hard line fundamentalists and is also close to Mr. Khameneh’i calls for an end to Ayatollah Montazeri's confinement.
Until now, all efforts aimed at easing the harsh conditions of the dissident cleric had met with a blunt "niet" by the leader of the regime.
"This is an important development, even though Mr. Naser Imani, who signed the article, was not speaking out of compassion for Ayatollah Montazeri, for, according to Resalat, the five years house arrest had been futile, as his ideas continue to be published and widely circulated, and what one has achieved so far is his physical restriction", observed Mr. Sadeq Saba, one of the BBC’s senior commentators on Iranian affairs.
"The continuation of Mr. Montazeri’s house arrest would also provides grounds to justify his political thoughts", the paper further wrote, adding that Ayatollah Montazeri's supporters should be "prevented from making political capital from his poor health and the continuation of his confinement".
Informed sources told Iran Press Service that several top clerics, some of them belonging to the ruling conservative camp, in letters to both the leader and the president, have expressed "deep concern" about the situation of Mr. Montazeri.
Although Resalat has requested the SCNS to take necessary measures in ending the Grand Ayatollah’s confinement, but analysts say the final decision on the case of the outspoken Grand Ayatollah will be taken by Mr. Khameneh'i, who, in close association with Ayatollah Ali Akbr Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ayatollah Khomeini’s son, Hojjatoleslam Ahmad, plotted the fall of Mr. Montazeri from power. ENDS RESALAT ON MONTAZERI 21103