There was speculation last week that Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri might be
freed from house arrest.The 80-year-old one-time supreme leader-in-waiting is considered one of the country’s highest religious authorities, and despite his confinement in the shrine city of Qom has many declared disciples.
The decision to free him was taken by the Supreme Council of National Security, Iran’s top decision-making body on security matters, chaired by President Mohammed Khatami, a moderate, but dominated by conservatives, according to the official IRNA news agency.
It followed growing pressure for Montazeri’s release, including from some 100 MPs of the reform camp, who wrote to Khatami on January 16 to express concern over “the seriousness of his health condition”.
Conservatives also favored lifting the house arrest, fearing that a sudden death of the ailing cleric could provoke troubles in the country, senior reformists said.
Reformists and allies of Khatami were expected to bank on his religious credentials and political clout in their bid to push forward reform efforts in the Islamic republic.
It was still uncertain whether Montazeri would involve himself in politics, given his medical problems. But his son Ahmad expressed optimism.
“Certainly, if Ayatollah Montazeri believes he should take a position on a political issue, he will do it”, explained Ahmad, who runs the cleric’s office. “This measure can strengthen unity and national harmony. Ayatollah Montazeri has supporters in the country who will have a more positive view of the regime”.
Two months ago, a delegation from Iran’s main pro-reform party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, visited the ayatollah in Qom for talks, and his supporters include several ministers close to Khatami.
The dissident cleric regularly issues statements from his home, and recently threw his support behind two bills Khatami is trying to get approved in a bid to cut the power of conservatives in key state bodies, notably the judiciary.
IIPF MP Mohammed Naimipour welcomed his coming liberation. “I hope the conservatives will take note of the domestic and regional situation and change their attitude, notably by releasing political prisoners”, he told a journalist.
Montazeri was once designated heir to the leader of the 1979 revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, but was passed over in 1988 for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after he criticized the Islamic regime.
He notably complained about the fate of members of armed opposition groups, and the house arrest was imposed in 1997 after he criticized Khamenei’s religious credentials.
An Iranian Interior Ministry official quoted by IRNA said the governors of Qom and of Isfahan, Montazeri’s home city, “have received the necessary orders to meet possible trouble”, following his release.
Ahmad for his part denied a report on the pro-conservative website Baztab that he and his brother Said had accepted a deal whereby the ayatollah would make no political statements in return for the end of his house arrest. “We made no request and made no undertaking of this sort”, he said.
The Supreme Council of National Security groups Iran’s top leaders, senior army officials and the ministers of intelligence, foreign affairs, interior and defense.
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