Hossein Ali Montazeri

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Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri (right) and Ali Chamenei (left), 1979

Hossein Ali Montazeri (also Hussein-Ali Montazeri , Persian حسینعلی منتظری[ hoˈseɪ̯n æˈliːje montæzeˈriː ]; * 1922 in Najafābād , Isfahan Province , Iran ; † December 19, 2009 in Qom ) was an Iranian Shiite clergyman and Grand Ayatollah . Under the regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavis he was one of the most famous Iranian regime critics. After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, he was a close collaborator of the revolutionary leader Ruhollah Khomeini and was 1985-1989 as his designated successor. His public criticism of human rights violations by the Iranian government led to a falling out with Khomeini in 1989, which then disempowered him shortly before his death. However, Montazeri remained one of the most important religious authorities of the Iranian Shiites and a supporter of the reformers.

Life

Montazeri studied in Isfahan and then attended the seminar in Qom. Ruhollah Khomeini was his teacher.

Hossein Ali Montazeri in Evin Prison

Imprisoned until shortly before the Iranian revolution in 1978/79, the revolutionary leader Khomeini appointed Ayatollah Montazeri to the newly formed Revolutionary Council after his return . He became one of Khomeini's closest collaborators, who “fully shared the views of his role model”. After Mahmud Taleghani's death in September 1979, the assembly of experts elected Montazeri as its president, while Mohammad Beheschti became vice-president .

A few months before Anwar al-Sadat was assassinated on October 6, 1981, Montazeri said:

“ The enemy agent Sadat must be removed and an Islamic regime established in Egypt ; the Iranian people will help the Egyptian people. "

- August 20, 1981

Montazeri commented on the alleged coup attempt by Grand Ayatollah Kasem Schariatmadari by denying any religious titles. He described him on April 16, 1982 as a "pseudo-religious personality".

In 1985, the Council of Experts, which according to the Iranian constitution is mandated to elect the chief legal scholar, appointed him as Khomeini's successor. Shortly before Khomeini's death, he deposed Montazeri as his successor in a letter dated March 26, 1989. The letter stated that Montazeri, as ruler, would leave the Iranian Muslims to the "liberals". He also referred to Montazeri's efforts against the execution of Mehdi Hashemi . This was preceded by Montazeri's criticism of mismanagement and human rights violations, including the mass executions in 1988 .

After Khomeini's death, Montazeri changed his political views in the direction of criticism of the regime, which Ali Khamene'i answered with house arrest from 1997 to 2003 . In 2002 he even proposed a two-state solution for the Middle East conflict over Israel and Palestina .

After the Iranian presidential elections in 2009 , Montazeri announced on his website that the ruling Islamic system no longer had any political and religious legitimacy due to fraud. The result presented by the government with the landslide victory of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could "no one in their right mind" accept. On July 12, 2009, Montazeri issued a fatwa regarding the Iranian presidential election and its falsification:

“If someone in charge should neglect his secular and religious duties and abuse the trust of the people, he is automatically deposed. However, should he try to keep himself in power through violence, lies and deception, the believers are obliged to depose him by all means permitted by law. No believer should, under whatever pretext, evade this obligation. "

Hossein Ali Montazeri enjoyed great recognition among the Iranian people until his death in 2009. Its advocates included mostly young, reform-oriented students, but also many religious-conservative Iranians. Along with the leader of the Iraqi Shiites, the Persian-born Grand Ayatollah Ali as-Sistani , and the imprisoned regime critic Ayatollah Hossein Kazemeyni Borudscherdi , he had the highest religious reputation in Iran.

Burial of Montazeri in Qom
Burial of Montazeri in Qom

After Montazeri's death, clashes with security forces broke out at the memorial service in Qom on December 21, 2009, attended by tens of thousands of reform supporters. In the following days, memorial gatherings in Isfahan and Montazeri's hometown of Najafābād were forcibly broken up by the police and foreign reporters were banned from reporting.

literature

Web links

Commons : Hossein-Ali Montazeri  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ZEIT-online from December 20, 2009
  2. ↑ Christopher de Bellaigue: In the rose garden of the martyrs. A portrait of Iran. From the English by Sigrid Langhaeuser, Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2006 (English original edition: London 2004), p. 122
  3. ↑ Hans-Georg Ebert, Henner Fürtig, Hans-Georg Müller: The Islamic Republic of Iran. Akademie-Verlag Berlin 1987. Page 418
  4. ↑ a b Hans-Peter Drögemüller: Iranisches Tagebuch. 5 years of revolution. Hamburg 1983
  5. ↑ Ruhollah al-Musavi al-Khomeini: Letter Dismissing Montazeri. (No longer available online.) Princeton University Iran Data Portal, archived from the original on April 2, 2015 ; accessed on March 12, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.princeton.edu
  6. ↑ Baqer Moin: Khomeini . Life of the Ayatollah. IB Tauris, New York 1999, ISBN 1-85043-128-0 , pp. 287-289 (on- line ).
  7. ↑ "A government that relies on lies" . Spiegel online, June 24, 2009
  8. ↑ Moin, p. 279.
  9. ^ Die ZEIT-online of December 21, 2009
  10. ↑ Christopher de Bellaigue: In the rose garden of the martyrs. A portrait of Iran. From the English by Sigrid Langhaeuser, Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2006 (English original edition: London 2004), p. 181 f.
  11. ^ Report in the NZZ
  12. ↑ Fatwa against Chamenei taz.de of July 12, 2009
  13. ↑ washingtoninstitute.org ( Memento of September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), September 2006 (accessed on November 21, 2013)
  14. ^ Bahman Nirumand: Opposition uses memorial service to protest . TAZ, December 22, 2009
  15. ↑ Wienerzeitung.at: Clashes at memorial celebrations in Iran  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.wienerzeitung.at  
personal data
SURNAME Montazeri, Hossein Ali
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Montazeri, Hussein Ali
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Iranian Grand Ayatollah
DATE OF BIRTH 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Najaf Abad , Esfahan Province , Iran
DATE OF DEATH December 19, 2009
Place of death Qom