Forum Views ()
Forum Replies ()
Read more with google mobile :
Iran opposition seeks leader's removal
Yahoo!
My Yahoo!
Mail
More Yahoo! Services
Account Options
New User? Sign Up
Sign In
Help
Yahoo! Search
web search
Home
Singapore
Asia Pacific
World
Business
Entertainment
Sports
Technology
Africa
Europe
Latin America
Middle East
North America
Iran opposition seeks leader's removal - Hardliners
Reuters - Sunday, December 13
Send
IM Story
Print
By Fredrik Dahl
TEHRAN - Hardliners accused Iran's reformist opposition on Saturday of seeking the removal of key pillars of the Islamic Republic, including the office of the supreme leader, and of insulting the memory of its late founder.
Conservative clerics spoke out against the opposition a few days after pro-reform students, seeking to renew their challenge to the re-election President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad clashed with police in Tehran and elsewhere.
Crowds of clerics from theological schools and other leadership loyalists staged rallies in cities across Iran, chanting "Death to America" and "Death to opponents of the Supreme Leader," official media reported.
"What they are after is to have a thin layer remaining of the Islamic Republic," Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said in a speech in the holy Shi'ite city of Qom.
Saturday's events were held to protest against an "insult" to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the 1979 overthrow of the U.S.-backed Shah and who remains widely revered in Iran.
State television has broadcast footage of what it said were opposition supporters tearing up and trampling on a picture of Khomeini during anti-government demonstrations on December 7.
A nationwide rally on that day to mark the killing of three students under the shah turned violent when reformist students clashed with security forces armed with batons and tear gas in the largest such protests in months.
"There will be no leniency towards those who insulted the Imam," said Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, referring to Khomeini, who died in 1989 and was succeeded by the current supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi, a moderate who came second in the June election, condemned the "insult" towards Khomeini, daily Jomhuri Eslami reported. "No just and pious human being would allow himself to do such a thing," he said.
"ISLAM'S ENEMIES"
During the election campaign, Mousavi attacked Ahmadinejad's foreign and economic policies, but he also advocated a return to the "fundamental values" of Khomeini.
Mousavi and his backers say the presidential poll was rigged to secure a second four-year term for Ahmadinejad, whose victory was swiftly endorsed by Khamenei.
The authorities have rejected vote fraud charges and portrayed the huge pro-Mousavi protests that erupted after the poll as a foreign-backed bid to undermine the Islamic system of government implemented after the 1979 revolution.
"They are after an Islamic Republic without Islamic jurisprudence and without the Guardian Council," Khatami said, referring to the institution of the supreme leader and a powerful 12-member legislative body.
The comment was echoed by a senior cleric in the northwestern city of Tabriz, Ayatollah Mohsen Mojtahed Shabastari, who said the opposition's intention was "to get rid of the supreme leader," IRNA news agency reported.
Last Monday's opposition protests were much smaller than those in the days after the election. But the mood seemed more radical with protesters chanting slogans against the clerical establishment and not just criticising Ahmadinejad's victory.
A day later, a senior judiciary official said Iran would "show no mercy" towards demonstrators seen as threatening national security, comments underlined by a Revolutionary Guards official on Saturday.
"Although we are quiet today at the order of the supreme leader, we are ready and prepared to firmly confront Islam's enemies and counter-revolutionaries with a signalling of his finger," said Ayoub Hassanzadeh, a cleric who is Khamenei's representative in the Guards' airforce.
The June election plunged Iran into deep political turmoil and exposed deepening divisions within the establishment.
Thousands of Mousavi supporters were detained after the vote, including senior reformers. Most have been freed but about 80 people have received jail terms of up to 15 years and five have been sentenced to death over the post-vote unrest. Hardliners have called for Mousavi to also be prosecuted.
Recommend
Send
IM Story
Print
Related Articles
Can Chile's fractured left beat a billionaire? AP - 47 minutes ago
Blair will give Iraq war evidence in public: inquiry AFP - 1 hour 26 minutes ago
Jewish settler woman stabbed in West Bank Reuters - 1 hour 26 minutes ago
Billionaire favoured in Chile vote but run-off seen Reuters - 1 hour 31 minutes ago
Amazon projects undercut Brazil's new green path Reuters - 1 hour 36 minutes ago
News Search
Top Stories
'Whack A Banker' game proving a hit in Britain
Top British banker admits 'mistakes' on bonuses
US House passes historic financial sector overhaul
Developing nations slam EU climate fund pledge
Iran, Afghanistan, threaten Gulf security: Kuwaiti minister
More Top Stories »
ADVERTISEMENT
Most Popular
Most Viewed
Most Recommended
Tiger Woods' girlfriend apologizes in TV interview
US House passes historic financial sector overhaul
Iran, Afghanistan, threaten Gulf security: Kuwaiti minister
Developing nations slam EU climate fund pledge
Iraq strikes deals with Big Oil on southern fields
More Most Viewed »
Global stocks mixed amid Dubai debt crisis
Tiny magnetic discs could kill cancer cells: study
Virgin unveils spaceship to offer space tourism
Mankind using Earth's resources at alarming rate
Dubai blackout over debt plans to hit Gulf markets
More Most Recommended »
Elsewhere on Yahoo!
Financial news on Yahoo! Finance
Stars and latest movies
Best travel destinations
More on Yahoo! News
Home
Singapore
Asia Pacific
World
Business
Entertainment
Sports
Technology
Subscribe to our news feeds
Top StoriesMy Yahoo!RSS
» More news feeds | What are news feeds?
Also on Yahoo
Answers
Groups
Mail
Messenger
Mobile
Travel
Finance
Movies
Sports
Games
» All Yahoo! Services
Site Highlights
Singapore
Full Coverage
Most Popular
Asia Entertainment
Photos
Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Southeast Asia Pte. Ltd. (Co. Reg. No. 199700735D). All Rights Reserved.
Terms of Service |
Privacy Policy |
Community |
Intellectual Property Rights Policy |
Help
Other News on Sunday, 13 December 2009 Lawmaker: Iraqi security had tip-off before bombs
Showdown looms over West Bank construction curb
Intelligence on Baghdad blasts mishandled: interior minister
|
Iraq hails 2nd oil auction but risky sites shunned
Iran offers to swap low-enriched uranium for fuel
Seven crew missing after ship capsizes off Lebanon
Afghan cabinet unveiled end of the week: official
|
Rebel Abkhazia chooses leader, Russia hails vote
|
UN builds mud brick homes for homeless Gazans
Iranian clerics rally to support supreme leader
Brazil, Peru condemn Honduran limits on Zelaya
|
Blair defends Iraq war, even without WMD
Iran proposes fuel swap on Kish island
Japan takes three titles in Grand Slam judo
Martial law ended in Philippine massacre province
Violence mars huge Copenhagen demonstration
Sri Lanka war refugees face uneasy homecoming
`Family Ties' actor Bonsall charged with assault
State Department says Cuba has detained US citizen
Peshawar on front line of Pakistan's militant war
Hundreds line up as Wash. coffee shop reopens
Police: Americans in Pakistan had Taliban contact
Guzzlers gouge rift between Nevada state agencies
Thailand seizes arms on plane from North Korea
Hawaii abuzz about Obama's expected holiday return
Houston voters could elect first openly gay mayor
Philippines lifts martial law in southern province
Official: Kabul deputy mayor arrested in crackdown
NYC woman gets probation for smuggling monkey meat
Expanded Medicare won't provide seamless coverage
Rights complaint planned in Philly school attacks
Lebanon pressing US to deliver military aid
China, Kazakhstan unveil landmark gas pipeline
Japan, US reach 'open skies' deal
Woods may find it difficult to recapture old dominance
|
Miss World opens with African drums, legal drama
French rocker in induced coma in Los Angeles
Murder At A Nursing Home, 98-Year-Old Woman Kills 100-Year-Old Roommate
Jewish settler woman stabbed in West Bank
Top British banker admits 'mistakes' on bonuses
Thailand to charge plane crew over N.Korean arms
|
US-TECH Summary
Iran opposition seeks leader's removal
Rebel Abkhazia elects president in 'illegitimate' vote
Catalans vote in referendum on independence
|
Google to produce, sell own "Nexus One" phones: report
Venezuela arrests ex-securities commission chief
|
Search for Air France black boxes to resume in February
Google hints at making mobile telephone
China demotes editor after Obama interview: sources
|
Intelligence on Baghdad blasts mishandled
Tiger's website becomes forum for fans, critics
Iran opposition warns of action against reformers
|
Billionaire favored in Chile vote but run-off seen
|
Amazon projects undercut Brazil's new green path
|
Jewish settler woman stabbed in West Bank
|
Google to produce, sell own Nexus One phones: report
|
Gunmen storm jail, free 31 prisoners in Philippines
Body found on Mount Hood; 2 climbers still missing
Expanded Medicare won't provide seamless coverage
Aussie, Chinese officials urge pandas to reproduce
Correction: Japan-Slain Briton story
Man accused of killing 12 people captured in China
Obama, Medvedev discuss weapons treaty
Philippine kidnappers' animal sacrifice demand
90 vehicles trapped as Calif faces rain, snow, mud
Six injured in fifth Hong Kong acid attack
Vehicles stuck on S. Calif highway after mudslides
Police capture mass-murder suspect in China
Protesters damage Calif. university leader's home
Almost 1,000 arrested at Copenhagen climate rally
Missing Utah mom's family prays for her return
Episcopal bishop seeks prayer in rift over gays
Guerrillas stage Philippine jailbreak: police
Creator of first 50-star American flag dies at 67
Euphoria ends, reality bites Malaysia's opposition
Young Chinese groan at skyrocketing property costs
China cracks EU roadworks market via Poland
Haneke's White Ribbon sweeps European Film Awards
|
Twilight studio to distribute Polanski film
|
'Uncharted 2' nabs top prize at VGAs
Doh! The Simpsons still young and yellow at 20
Comedians in Chicago for Second City anniversary
Miss World: Gibraltar's Kaiane Aldorino crowned
Haneke's "White Ribbon" sweeps European Film Awards
Protesters condemn Swiss minaret ban
Hindus Protest Fox Channel Show's Remark That Ganges River Is 'Disease'
Supreme leader says Iran's opposition violates law
Catalans vote in symbolic independence referendum
Philippines hostage crisis ends, victims freed
|
US, Russia talks on cyberspace security: report
Sudan leaders reach deal on disputed reforms
North Korea, U.S. agree to resume peace talks: report
|
Dubai stocks maintain profits after break
'Whack A Banker' game proving a hit in Britain
Burned ayatollah photo sparks new Iranian protests
India test fires ballistic missile off east coast
|
Brown vows new push to defeat Taliban
PLO set to extend Abbas term as Palestinian leader
|
Sudan leaders "make progress" in reform row talks
Billionaire favored in Chile vote but run-off seen
|
New Afghan city official detained over graft
Israel votes new funds for settlements
|
Israeli cabinet to vote on new settlement credits
Petraeus sees shift in Al Qaeda's Iraq tactics
|
Blair will give Iraq war evidence in public: inquiry
Ethnic tensions simmer in crisis-struck Guinea
|
Cause of Air France crash may remain mystery: sources
|
Thaksin back in Cambodia as Thai spy to be freed
|
Militants attack Philippine jail, 31 inmates freed
The nation's weather
Thaksin provokes Thailand with new Cambodia visit
India test fires ballistic missile off east coast
Obama celebrates the holidays
S.Lankan rebels killed in cold blood: ex-army chief
Ex-Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra arrives in Cambodia
Senate to vote on $1.1 trillion spending bill
Gunmen free 47 hostages in Philippines
Thailand to charge plane crew over North Korean arms
Philippines hostage crisis ends, victims freed
Hundreds protest over decision on new Indian state
Dubai stocks maintain profits after break
Disney exec: China big enough for 2 theme parks
Bangladesh seeks investment for energy projects
Kate Winslet wins Best European Actress award
Romania's unwanted children given a chance
S.Africa tackles World Cup child trafficking fears
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights