Montazeri Urges Clerics Not to Remain Silent

Grand Ayatollah Montazeri has put out a strong letter in which he urges other Grand Ayatollah's and clerics to stand up for the rights of the people:

In his message, Ayatollah Montazeri, a Source of Emulation [Persian: marja’-e taqlid] and a leading dissident clergyman, called on the ulema “not to remain silent in the face of the brutalities and the violation of rights and heresies, and to correct the wrong policies of the ruling authorities once and for all.”

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Montazeri then says that the objective of the people in carrying out the revolution of 1979 in Iran was to “uproot tyranny and the violation of their rights”. He noted: “The objective was not to merely change names, symbols and slogans and allow tyranny and wrongdoings of the past to continue in another form, under the title of religious governance and the [principle of the] guardianship of the jurisconsult [Persian: velayat-e faqih].”

He reminded that he, himself was “among the most militant supporters of religious governance and one of the founders of the system [previous word in English] of the guardianship of the jurisconsult, but of course not in its present customary form.” He added that his view was that “the vali-ye faqih [the leader] should be chosen by the people” and the people should have the opportunity to supervise his performance.”

“I feel ashamed before the alert people of Iran because of the tyranny they have been subjected to under that name and title [i.e. vali-ye faqih], and I consider myself responsible before Almighty God and blameworthy in the face of the blood which has been shed by the dear martyrs and the violated rights of innocent people.”
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“The people say: If Islam opposes these cruelties, violation of rights and heresies, then why are not the esteemed Sources of Emulation and the ulema, who are the protectors of religion and faith, the bulwark of Islam and the Shari’a and protectors of the rights of the people…are not explicitly opposing these heresies and wrongdoings being committed in the name of religion?”

Elsewhere in his message, Ayatollah Montazeri wrote that the people had a “religious and legal right”, to protest against the result of the election and that “the ruling authorities, instead of responding positively and reasonably to the rightful cry of the people and move to secure their injured right, labeled the several million-strong crowd as rioters and foreign agents and subjected defenseless men and women to the worst and most brutal crackdown, detaining a large number of them and turning into martyrs a group of them in the streets and another group, inside horrific prisons.”