Grand Ayatollah Khorasani Blasts Regime

Grand Ayatollah Hossein Vahid Khorasani gave a speech in which he deeply criticized the behavior of the regime. Here is the report:

In a speech to thousands of people in the Grand Mosque of Qom, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Vahid Khorasani, the most important Shiite Marja' living in Iran, severely criticized the judiciary for turning arrests and jailing into a normal and common practice in Iran, disregarding slamic teachings regarding imprisonment. He said that only "a true Faghih (Islamic scholar that can properly deduce instructions from Islamic teachings) who has understood the depth of Islamic teachings knows when jailing someone is allowed and why jailing is such a severe punishment, and [because] the basis of religion is people's freedom and jailing them and taking them away from their families and society is a severe punishment, the cases for which jailing is allowed has been carefully laid out."

Ayatollah Vahid Khorasani is father-in-law of the judiciary chief Sadegh Larijani. He has reportedly told his son-in-law that not only is he not qualified to lead the judiciary, but that he should resign under the present terrible conditions. He has consistently refused to meet with Ayatollah Khamenei wherever he travels to Qom, and reportedly told him many years ago that, "You be the king, and leave Feghahat to others," hence questioning his religious credentials. Just before the February 14 demonstrations, he met with families of imprisoned political figures, expressed his sympathies and declared that, "We have no relations with them [the hardliners]." In meeting with these families he has repeatedly made statements that clearly indicate that he does not believe his son-in-law is qualified or even fair minded enough to lead the judiciary.

The day after the February 14 demonstrations, classes taught by Ayatollah Vahid Khorasani were forced to be canceled by the followers of Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, the reactionary cleric and spiritual advisor to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They apparently wanted to make it look like Ayatollah Vahid Khorasani had canceled his classes to protest the demonstrations the day before, but it became quickly clear that it was the work of Mesbah Yazdi's followers.

Ayatollah Vahid Khoarsani's criticism is clearly directed first and foremost at Ayatollah Khamenei, who appoints the clerics to all the important judicial posts, and then his own son-in-law, hence questioning the legitimacy of both as well as their religious credentials.