Posted on 02/17/2008 1:58:56 PM PST by 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.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iLqHcd5a_iFPiXhHEm0otIoLXMWQ
Jimmuh Cahter must be in mourning today, one of his Assahollah friends went to meet Allah (p*** be upon him).
I wonder if he will get a 21 bomb salute?
Goldfinch - you make an interesting point that his death may be taken as a sign. Not that it matters much.
Let’s remember a couple of things:
1)There are no such thing as free & fair elections in Iran
2)The election in March is for Parliament members. They make Iran LOOK like it has a civilized & fair gov’t, but they are basically powerless, because in the end they have to answer to the Guardian Council and Khamenei. Everyone in Parliament wants to keep his/her job (and life), so there won’t be any major changes to the regime coming out of there.
3)As far as “hardliners” vs “conservatives” vs “moderates” or “reformists” - there is no difference, except that “reformists/moderates” tend to smile more. Just as many people are killed and arrested under “moderates” as “hardliners” because in the end, it’s Khamenei who is in charge and it’s Khomeinism that is at the core of gov’t rule.
Hassan Khomeini is no different from Rafsanjani or Khatami.
Whether someone likes or dislikes Ahmadinejad is meaningless. He was put in his position by Khamenei and will be ousted and replaced by him when he sees fit.
“We should ask Radio Farda etc to broadcast Milton Freedman’s “Free to choose” etc. in Farsi.”
lol. Things at Radio Farda have improved a little, (so I hear) but not that much.
What that guy said.
They won’t “wonder” - they’ll interpret this event to fit their views.
It must be a sign from Allah that we are to conduct jihad with nuclear weapons!
What the hell is that?!
Considering the streets of the Middle East are always filled with ranting, frothing, bug-eyed men one would expect they would croak by the thousands with heart attacks and strokes!
Hmmmm-raising their blood pressure to the anuerysm point...that might be very productive!
Is this not the will of “Allah”? Mekhtoub!(It is written!)
First name Herod by any chance?
Sometimes God shows that He is not tired, not deaf, and still interested in justice.
Awright... Who left the ZOT machine running?!?
Exploding headrest again?
Did anybody report seeing lightning?
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.Thanks AdmSmith. I mostly agree with your analysis, but would quibble that the only news out of Iran is bad news, just that some is more bad than others. The good news will be when all of the mullahs are dead.
Perhaps time to take another look at what this ayatollah died over.
Khomeini’s grandson is an “almost” secularist who does not believe in the clerics ruling a country as his grandad did.
Nor is he the fanatical hardliner that might be expected. He has been known (while in Europe or the USA) to have “partied” with small groups he trusts. Just like a Western young man.
http://noiri.blogspot.com/2007/07/khomeinis-islam-in-nutshell.html
However, forming an alliance with the late Shah’s son, Prince Reza Pahlavi, with whom he has met and chatted in friendliest of terms, to regain Iran’s freedom, proved too long a stride for him to take.
Would have made an interesting and perhaps hard to stop AntiMullah”team”.
The Khomeini grandson could draw in the religious inside Iran and the Prince those who regret the loss of what the Monarchy had provided in security and freedoms.
And there are increasing numbers of those, who now ruefully say “if only we had known what we were doing....”.
No! No! Don’t throw the Shah was a dictator and there was no freedom etc., at this.
There was no freedom for Communism and Marxist-Islamists at the request of his allies, specially the USA, who begged him to confront the Soviets. Then IDIOT Carter, suspected by many of having been a Soviet mole, stabbed him in the back precisely for doing this. Under the plaint that he was abusing human rights.
Of Carter’s darling Communists. A philosophy, whose leaders Carter continues to support and promote. Castro, Chavez and other leftist heads of state in South America.
Even Amnesty International, not a friend of the Shah, admitted there were only 2,400 political prisoners in Iran and that these were generally Soviet inspired and incited members of the banned Tudeh (Communist) party.
The very people who ended up implementing the Soviet directed revolution in Iran, opening the door for the Mullahs and causing the mindboggling challenges we face today with violent Islam.
Read the Ayatollah Khomeini sayings at the link above as a refresher.
Heart attack induced by drugs.
Meant for the space to show.
Corrected:
Heart attack induced by __________ drugs.
I hope it’s contagious.
Ping!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.