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Montazeri is challenging the core values of the regime, and as the traditional clergy faces off with the regime, the potential for violence is high
An extraordinary outbreak of factional fighting has divided normally pro-regime circles in Qom and Tehran, reminiscent of the early days of the Islamic Republic. As long-standing divisions within the clergy come out into the open and become more acute in the coming months, the potential for more widespread violence is high. Indeed, sources close to President Khatami in Tehran warned that a "battle royal" had begun that threatens to shake the Islamic Republic to its very foundations.
The dispute, which made headlines in the state-controlled media toward the end of November, erupted when Grand Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri delivered a sermon to followers in Qom on Nov. 14, denouncing the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamene'i, and challenged his credentials to rule Iran.
Ayatollah Montazeri was the hand-picked successor of the Islamic Republic's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, but Khomeini disowned him on March 28, 1989 only two months before his death because of Montessori's increasingly open opposition to Khomeini's authoritarian style of clerical rule. Since then, Montazeri has been confined to Qom, although he has been allowed on occasion to address students and followers, as he did in mid-November.
Montazeri's Nov. 14 speech was a direct attack on Khomeini's successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamene'i, whom the traditional clergy have never accepted as the spiritual leader of Shiite Muslims. He said Khamene'i's lavish life-style compared poorly to that of Imam Ali, the founder of the Shiite sect, "who ruled over a nation three times as big as our Iran of today from a 3-room house" which doubled as his office. Montazeri criticized the leaders of the Islamic Republic for deforming the Constitution and Islamic beliefs, and for monopolizing the mass media, which he argued "must belong to the people." He also denounced regime interference in the election process, saying "elections must be free."
But his most caustic remarks were reserved for Khamene'i himself, who was anointed by Ayatollah Khomeini to lead the revolution as its Supreme Guide and "jurist," the ultimate religious and political authority in the land. Khamene'i's religious credentials have never been accepted by the traditional clergy, and his appointment in 1989 led to a 10 year muted struggle by the traditional clergy in Qom and Mashad to circumvent his religious authority. "In our Constitution, we have a Velayat-e faqih, but not in the sense that one man concentrates all power in his hands," Montazeri said. "The vali we considered and envisaged in the Constitution has his duties and responsibility clearly defined. His main responsibility is to supervise, to make sure that society does not waver from the true path of Islam. If he sees that the president is going against the principles of Islam, he must stop him." He went on to admonish Khamene'i directly for his lack of religious credentials. "I told Khamene'i please do your best to keep the marja'yat [supreme religious authority] independent, as it has always been; keep the howzeh [religious schools] independent, for if they become state institutions it is dangerous for the future of Islam and Shiism. Don't let the sanctity and moral independence of the howzeh get mixed up with affairs of state. What's this idea of sending a bunch of unruly kids off to Qom to demonstrate against this or that person? Don't try to imitate the Imam [Khomeini] because you are not him. So stop dealing with religious matters and content yourself to supervise."
Azari-Qomi's open letter: Montazeri appears to have been bolstered to make this unusually bold speech by the publication in the exile press and on Farsi-language radios reaching Iran of a 34-page open letter from Ayatollah Ahmad Azeri Qomi, an erstwhile Khamene'i-ally and a member of the Assembly of Experts that originally elected him. The letter strongly criticized Khamene'i and the Velayat-e faghih, and warned that unless dramatic changes were made in the way the regime was running the affairs of the nation, "the people will consign us to the dustbin of history."
Among Azeri-Qomi's proposals was a suggestion that Khamene'i deputize Montazeri to handle religious affairs, leaving Khamene'i to oversee politics. He also blamed Khamene'i for having personally supervised the creation of the Ansar-e Hezbollah gangs that have terrorized liberal academics and clerics over the past two years, and accused Khamene'i for having set the stage for widespread "moral corruption" among regime officials and clergymen which has "withered the roots of decency."
He also criticized the regime for torturing the sons of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Shirazi. "Even if he rejects the Velayat-e faghih, why torture his children? Security organizations should learn from the shameful fate of the SAVAK," he wrote. He also appealed to president Khatami to abolish the Special Court for the Clergy which was established by Ayatollah Khomeini shortly before his death in order to purge the traditional clergy of those who failed to support the ruling political order and the institution of the Velayat-e faghih. It is this Court that has arrested and tortured many followers of Grand Ayatollah Shirazi.
In response, on November 10, Azeri-Qomi was forcibly expelled from a Qom clerical institute, on orders from Khamene'i, sources inside Iran said, while the Ansar-e Hezbollah organized street demonstrations denouncing him in Qom and Isfahan.
Next, the regime attacked Montazeri himself. On Nov. 19, groups of Ansar-e Hezbollah thugs, known to be organized by a close Khamene'i confidant, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, stormed Montazeri's private compound in Qom, ransacking the premises and reportedly physically assaulting the 75-year old cleric. During their assault, they chanted: "Montazeri and Azari must be hanged," and: "this nest of spies must be destroyed." The term "nest of spies" was coined during the 1979-1981 hostage crisis to describe the U.S. embassy in Tehran.
The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency broadcast the attack and the chants, subsequently reassuring readers that Grand Ayatollah was "safe," although his whereabouts remains unknown. Sources in Tehran and Qom said that Montazeri and Azeri-Qomi were both herded off to undisclosed locations by armed agents of the Ministry of Information and Security during the Nov. 19 attack. While their disappearance has not been officially confirmed, neither cleric has appeared in public since the Nov. 19 clashes. They are believed to be in the hands of the Special Court for the Clergy or the MOIS, which work hand-in-hand.
Khamene'i threatens trial: In a Nov. 26 speech to Basijis, broadcast live by state-run radio and television, Ayatollah Khamene'i went even further, ordering the courts to start proceedings against Montazeri. In discussing Montazeri's criticism of the regime, he warned: "Those who have tried to break unity among the people by disrupting public security and sowing discord ... have committed treason against the people, the revolution and the country. They should be punished according to the law." Such charges carry the death penalty in Iran.
But Ayatollah Montazeri still has followers in high places. Despite his apparent arrest, on December 1 he managed to circulate a samizdat statement in Tehran, signed by his own hand, criticizing the regime for their heavy-handed attack on his followers in Qom, according to the Tehran-based Iran Nation's Party, an illegal but tolerated opposition group headed by former Labor Minister, Darioush Forouhar.
In recent days, the clashes have subsided as the regime has sought to put on a public face of domestic tranquillity to welcome world leaders to the Islamic summit conference in Tehran. But most observers in Tehran believe that once the Summit is over, fighting could erupt anew. "Everyone is preparing for the battle," one supporter of President Khatami told The Iran Brief. "People are taking sides and the battle lines are being drawn."
The unknowns: Several unknown factors will come into play in the coming weeks and months, that could dramatically alter the balance of power among the different factions in Iran.
First: Rafsanjani. Whose side will he take, if any? In a public speech on Nov. 28, two days after Khamene'i's threats, Rafsanjani appeared to join the Supreme Leader. "It would be most unjust if someone were to say that the country has not been run well under his (Khamene'i) honorable leadership," he told Friday prayer worshippers at Tehran University.
In an apparent conciliatory gesture, he noted that "All of us, those who have some criticism and those who do not, should join hands and unite in these sensitive times. We should not confuse the society...and not do anything that pleases our enemies." Observers in Tehran said that this and other comments - in particular, Rafsanjani's back-handed defense of embattled Tehran mayor, Gholamreza Karbaschi - suggested that he was sending a quiet message to reformers that if push came to shove, he would be on their side.
But then he went on: "It is time to put an end to such criticism, for Velayat is the spine of our regime and of Islam. It is not to suppress freedom of expression, but because the interest of the state dictates so" [emphasis ours].
Given Rafsanjani's long history of ambiguity, it is unlikely he will back either side until it is clear who the winner will be. Indeed, his long association with the regime is likely to make him extremely hesitant to support a reform movement that could easily careen out of control, stirring up long-simmering resentments that could end up sweeping the regime from power
Second, Khatami. So far, the newly-elected president has tried to stay clear of the dispute, but both sides are trying to draw him into their web. In editorials that appeared shortly after the attack on Montazeri's compound, the regime-controlled dailies Jomhouri-e Eslami and Resalat chastised the president for not supporting Khamene'i more vocally. "Your silence is not compatible with the line of the late Imam," Jomhouri-e Eslami warned. "You do not have any justification for your silence." Instead, the paper said, he should have condemned Montazeri "because of his illegal activities."
The conservative daily Resalat, which had been run by Ayatollah Azari-Qomi up until a few months ago, went even further, telling Khatami that if he feels uncomfortable with the restrictions put on his authority by the Supreme Leader, then he should "go to the leader, offer his resignation and explain his reasons to the public."
In his open letter, Grand Ayatollah Azari-Qomi held the new President accountable for the actions of the Intelligence Ministry, which constitutionally is under his control. "Every one knows that concerning the Information Ministry, the leader has imposed his will upon you. But don't forget that in the eyes of the people, you are accountable for all the abuses and criminal activities carried out by agents of this ministry."
Azari-Qomi proposed a solution, which would clearly be explosive: calling for a referendum on the powers and the role of the Supreme Leader. "With their vote in your favor, our braved people have brought the whole of the present leadership into question and I am proud of it. But dear Mr. President, be careful not to become the last president of the Islamic Republic, for this is what may well be your fate if you do not act now to stop at once the present injustices committed in the name of Islam."
As my friend in Texas says, those are fighting words.