Iran: The Post-Election Challenge from the Clerics of Qom
The Latest from Iran (1 July): The Opposition Regroups

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Last week, Ayatollah Hadi Ghaffari made a lengthy speech criticising the post-election conduct of the Iranian Government. That in itself was not surprising; other clerics have expressed unease with the events of the last three weeks. Ghaffari went further, however, with his direct challenge to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Unsurprisingly, the leaked audio has created a stir inside and outside Iran. Another copy on YouTube is overlaid with less-than-flattering caricatures of Khamenei.

The audio is in Farsi, of course. Translated extracts, provided by the National Iranian American Committee, follow:

GHAFFARI: Khamenei, your recent actions and behavior has brought shame to us clerics. Our image in the streets and bazaars has been tarnished as everyone is placing us in the same category as Ahmadinejad….Khamenei, you are wrong, your actions are wrong. I believe in the Velayat-e-faqih [system of clerical authority] more than you….

I’m not preaching these messages so that I could be associated with the West. I loathe the West and will fight to the last drop of my blood before I or my land succumbs to the West. On the contrary, I’m preaching these messages on the count that the respect for our profession is gone….

Young people are not praying anymore, whose fault is that? It is your fault Mr. Khamenei, it’s your fault for placing us in the same line as that lunatic Ahmadinejad….Ahmadinejad is nobody, you should congregate with us instead of him.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 06:23 and is filed under Middle East & Iran. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.