Iran ayatollah drops dead during election speech

Iran Focus ^ | Feb 17, 2008 | Staff

[forkinsocket]

TEHRAN, Feb 17, 2008 (AFP) — An Iranian ayatollah died suddenly of a heart attack during an impassioned speech lashing out at insults against the family of revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the run-up to elections, the press reported on Sunday.

Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Tavassoli, a former head of Khomeini's office, died while delivering the speech to Iran's main arbitration body, the Expediency Council, of which he was a member, the Kargozaran daily reported.

He had been responding to unprecedented ultra-conservative attacks against Hassan Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini's respected grandson, who had criticised mass disqualifications in the March election and military interference.

"He was attacking those people with fossilized minds who attack the family and the ideas of the Imam Khomeini when he had a cardiac arrest," Mohammad Hashemi, brother of council head Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, told the paper.

He also quoted a letter from Khomeini from the early days of the revolution denouncing "reactionaries who attack the family and friends of the Imam Khomeini under the pretext of defending him."

"Defending the Imam until the very last moment," lauded the headline of Kargozaran next to a picture of Tavassoli, 77.

The manner of Tavassoli's sudden death underlines the tensions ahead of the March 14 parliamentary election.

Hundreds of reformist candidates have been disqualified in initial vetting while the head of the Revolutionary Guards made a surprise announcement that the elite force favours conservatives in the race.

Hassan Khomeini, who rarely makes comments in public, had bitterly criticised both of these events prompting extraordinary attacks against him by ultra-conservative websites.

In a piece entitled: "The secrets about the rosy cheeks of Seyyed Hassan Khomeini", the Nosazi (Restoration) website made allegations about him owning a BMW car, having a personal steam sauna and living in affluent north Tehran.

This in turn prompted another backlash in the press against the radical websites denouncing Khomeini's family, a taboo in the Islamic republic.

The judiciary subsequently shut down five unnamed internet sites for disturbing public opinion, one of which was believed to be Nosazi which is now impossible to access.

[forkinsocket]

.

[bronxboy]

To good to be true.

[2banana]

“and let God strike me dead if I am lying...”

[MNJohnnie]

Thanks God!

[Ukiapah Heep]

Was he endorsing Hillary, or Obama?

[yield 2 the right]

Is this true or is it not true...

[Chi-townChief]

Proving, once again, that Allah can be one fickle cat!!

[Bahbah]

What a lovely headline.

Now I will go back and read the article.

[rightwingextremist1776]

More likely it was lead poisoning....he should have known better then to speak out against the father of the revolution....

[Emmett McCarthy]

I’ll send the family a nice roast pig to serve at the wake. Maybe some of those “pig in a blanket”, too.

[crusty old prospector]

“Thanks be to Allah and his prophet”.

[LurkedLongEnough]

Check for polonium.

[Farmer Dean]

I’m always finding good news on the internet.Another dead Islamobum that we don’t have to shoot.

[Lijahsbubbe]

Let’s have a repeat with Ahmadinejad!

[RightWhale]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1971957/posts
Did this one support the Iranian nuclear program?

[Abathar]

Trying...

Trying...

Nope, can't seem to work up a tear for this guy.

[forkinsocket]

It's not the ayatollah, it's an ayatollah.

[davisfh]

Khomeini reached out from the grave and struck him dead!!

[ScratInTheHat]

I was wondering if there was a “or may God strike me dead” in the speech?

Regardless this is going to have a bunch of the really narrow minded Islamic morons wondering what God was trying to tell them.

[HereInTheHeartland]

Sounds like a situation that could be exploited via a well planted rumor.

[reaganbooster]

Do these barbarians know CPR? “Grab that AED, err I mean IED!”

[Young Werther]

I was the lay reader at my church today. The Ayatollah was not righteous and guess what! God spoke!

[bill1952]

These guys are perfectly sane.
Cool calm and collected. - We have nothing to worry about.

http://www.glumbert.com/media/rave

[Delta 21]

Was this one of those “God things”?

[fzx12345]

[SolidWood]

He attacked the critics of Khomeini.

[ScratInTheHat]

An Iranian ayatollah died suddenly of a heart attack during an impassioned speech lashing out at insults against the family of revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the run-up to elections, the press reported on Sunday.

I think he was speaking against someone else not Khomeini

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Here.

[Delta 21]

Love the beat! Thats some funny Shiite!

[rovenstinez]

Don’t make any disrespectful cartoons about this guy, maybe Allah was upset with him....

[baiamonte]

Allah be praised. Too bad he wasn’t revived and then shot.

[egginanest]

Too bad. If BO had only been there, he could have given him his bottle of water.

[JoanVarga]

It's a start...

-Joan

[Ingtar]

Ayatollah McCainiaca? Seriously, with the way McCain looks, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a similar headline on him.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Heh heh. I should have read futher before positing the same clip! These people are as looney as can be.

[blam]

Khamenei: God will punish Iranians who don't support nuclear program

[dfwgator]

“and let God strike me dead if I am lying...”

He must have gotten the "Two-Minute Warning."

[skinkinthegrass]

hehe....first , an Earthquake in Lebanon, then this dead Ayatollah....

[reg45]

Bum, Bum, Bum

Another one bites the dust!

[Bahbah]

LOLOL.

[tpanther]

You beat me to it. That was the thread I saw just below this one!

[Brilliant]

Sounds like a message from God.

[celtic gal]

Another one bites the dust?

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

Being full of hate and anger is not good for your health. They should get a life. Start loving their children instead of putting bombs around their waist.

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

Rove, you magnificent bastard!

[militem]

Thanks! Lousy weather here in WI today, I needed something to cheer me up. I thought it was a parody at first.

[Fido969]

Actually, he was attacking the hard conservatives when he died - in Iran “conservative” would probably be the Muslim extremists.

[chiefqc]

Went to collect his 72 camels.

[reagan_fanatic]

An Iranian ayatollah died suddenly of a heart attack during an impassioned speech

It was allah's will.

Enjoy eternal damnation, Mr. Mullah.

[goldfinch]

Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Tavassoli, a former head of Khomeini's office, died while delivering the speech to Iran's main arbitration body, the Expediency Council, of which he was a member, the Kargozaran daily reported.

He had been responding to unprecedented ultra-conservative attacks against Hassan Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini's respected grandson, who had criticised mass disqualifications in the March election and military interference.

Contrary to most of the posts on this thread, this is not good news. The man who died was protesting against the disqualification of more moderate candidates for the next election. So his death will be taken as a sign that God wants the 7th century hardliners to remain in power.