Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri

Itried to visit Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri once. He was 75 years old and had just been placed under house arrest. It was November 1997. My interpreter and I drove through the streets of the holy city of Qom searching for him. We'd been directed to his neighborhood by a minor dissident cleric we'd found teaching a Koran class. Now we stopped and asked every few blocks whether anyone knew which house was belonged to Montazeri. Qom is a smallish city, the foremost center of Shiite scholarship in the world and the place where the Iranian revolution was born.

Iran's supreme leader wrapped up an unprecedented 10-day visit to the Iranian seminary city of Qom on Friday that was widely seen as an attempt to bolster support among those in a clerical establishment either indifferent or hostile to his conservative agenda. FOR THE RECORD: Iran clergy: An article in the Oct. 30 Section A about Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and reform-minded clergy said an influential cleric, Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, died 40 years ago. He died last year.

Thousands of supporters of Iran's most senior dissident cleric marched through streets in his hometown and descended upon the country's main theological center today to mourn his passing just days before the climax of a politically charged religious commemoration. Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a pillar of the Islamic Revolution three decades ago who became a staunch defender of the nation's current opposition movement, died late Saturday of complications due to advanced age, diabetes and asthma, his doctor told state television.

Defiant amid demands for his execution, Iran's leading opposition figure on Friday issued a scathing denunciation of the government's violent crackdown against his supporters, calling for a restoration of civil liberties to end what he called a "serious crisis" that has destabilized the nation. Mir-Hossein Mousavi's statement, posted to reformist websites, was his first public comments since a violent weekend of protests coinciding with an important religious holiday. Mousavi's 43-year-old nephew, Ali Habibi-Mousavi, was shot to death Sunday.

Several thousand protesters took to the streets of Tehran on Thursday and clashed with security forces in the latest round of unrest over Iran's disputed June presidential election, according to witnesses and amateur video posted on the Internet. The latest unrest in the nation's capital comes as Iran steels itself for a potential outbreak of violence around the country this weekend during Ashura, the annual commemoration of the 7th century martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the prophet Muhammad and a revered figure in Iran's Shiite Muslim faith.

Reporting from Tehran and Dubai, United Arab Emirates -- Tens of thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets today in Qom, Iran's main theological center, to mourn the passing of the country's top dissident cleric, Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who died late Saturday at the age of 87. Witnesses described a steady procession of mourners walking from Montazeri's home to the shrine of Fatemeh Masoumeh, where Montazeri was laid to...

Tens of thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets Monday in Iran's main theological center and clashed with pro-government militiamen during the funeral of the country's top dissident cleric, Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri. The demonstration in the city of Qom was significant both for its important location and its merging of several currents in Iran's population: It drew older supporters of Montazeri from smaller cities and towns in the countryside as well as young middle-class urbanites from the capital.

A group of 554 clerics has demanded release of Iran's most prominent dissident, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who has been under house arrest in Qom since 1997. Montazeri's detention is "illegal and illegitimate" and should be lifted immediately, the clerics said in a petition to the country's senior religious authorities. Montazeri, 79, was once designated to succeed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, father of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Reporting from Beirut — Opposition websites reported clashes between demonstrators and security forces in central Tehran this morning as the peak of a 10-day religious holiday approached. The reformist website Rahesabz, or Green Path, said police used batons and fired teargas canisters to disperse demonstrators approaching Tehran's Imam Hossein Square. Passersby in motor vehicles leaned on their horns in support, said the website, which has previously proven accurate.

Iran's supreme leader wrapped up an unprecedented 10-day visit to the Iranian seminary city of Qom on Friday that was widely seen as an attempt to bolster support among those in a clerical establishment either indifferent or hostile to his conservative agenda. FOR THE RECORD: Iran clergy: An article in the Oct. 30 Section A about Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and reform-minded clergy said an influential cleric, Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, died 40 years ago. He died last year.

The Iranian capital erupted in small sporadic clashes Saturday, beginning in the morning and ending after darkness fell, spreading from the south to the far north of the city, as the peak of a 10-day religious holiday approached. The latest confrontations between security forces and largely peaceful demonstrators broke out on Tasua, the ninth day of the Islamic calendar month of Muharram and the day before Ashura, which is the annual commemoration of the 7th century martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the prophet Muhammad and a revered figure in Iran's majority Shiite Muslim faith.

Reporting from Beirut — Opposition websites reported clashes between demonstrators and security forces in central Tehran this morning as the peak of a 10-day religious holiday approached. The reformist website Rahesabz, or Green Path, said police used batons and fired teargas canisters to disperse demonstrators approaching Tehran's Imam Hossein Square. Passersby in motor vehicles leaned on their horns in support, said the website, which has previously proven accurate.

Several thousand protesters took to the streets of Tehran on Thursday and clashed with security forces in the latest round of unrest over Iran's disputed June presidential election, according to witnesses and amateur video posted on the Internet. The latest unrest in the nation's capital comes as Iran steels itself for a potential outbreak of violence around the country this weekend during Ashura, the annual commemoration of the 7th century martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the prophet Muhammad and a revered figure in Iran's Shiite Muslim faith.

Large-scale protests spread in central Iranian cities Wednesday, offering the starkest evidence yet that the opposition movement that emerged from the disputed June presidential election has expanded beyond its base of mostly young, educated Tehran residents to at least some segments of the country's pious heartland. Demonstrations took place in Esfahan, a provincial capital and Iran's cultural center, and nearby Najafabad, the birthplace and hometown of Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, whose death Saturday triggered the latest round of confrontations between the opposition movement and the government.

Tens of thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets Monday in Iran's main theological center and clashed with pro-government militiamen during the funeral of the country's top dissident cleric, Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri. The demonstration in the city of Qom was significant both for its important location and its merging of several currents in Iran's population: It drew older supporters of Montazeri from smaller cities and towns in the countryside as well as young middle-class urbanites from the capital.

Itried to visit Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri once. He was 75 years old and had just been placed under house arrest. It was November 1997. My interpreter and I drove through the streets of the holy city of Qom searching for him. We'd been directed to his neighborhood by a minor dissident cleric we'd found teaching a Koran class. Now we stopped and asked every few blocks whether anyone knew which house was belonged to Montazeri. Qom is a smallish city, the foremost center of Shiite scholarship in the world and the place where the Iranian revolution was born.

The Iranian capital erupted in small sporadic clashes Saturday, beginning in the morning and ending after darkness fell, spreading from the south to the far north of the city, as the peak of a 10-day religious holiday approached. The latest confrontations between security forces and largely peaceful demonstrators broke out on Tasua, the ninth day of the Islamic calendar month of Muharram and the day before Ashura, which is the annual commemoration of the 7th century martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the prophet Muhammad and a revered figure in Iran's majority Shiite Muslim faith.

Defiant amid demands for his execution, Iran's leading opposition figure on Friday issued a scathing denunciation of the government's violent crackdown against his supporters, calling for a restoration of civil liberties to end what he called a "serious crisis" that has destabilized the nation. Mir-Hossein Mousavi's statement, posted to reformist websites, was his first public comments since a violent weekend of protests coinciding with an important religious holiday. Mousavi's 43-year-old nephew, Ali Habibi-Mousavi, was shot to death Sunday.

Reporting from Tehran and Dubai, United Arab Emirates -- Tens of thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets today in Qom, Iran's main theological center, to mourn the passing of the country's top dissident cleric, Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who died late Saturday at the age of 87. Witnesses described a steady procession of mourners walking from Montazeri's home to the shrine of Fatemeh Masoumeh, where Montazeri was laid to...

Thousands of supporters of Iran's most senior dissident cleric marched through streets in his hometown and descended upon the country's main theological center Sunday to mourn his passing just days before the climax of a politically charged religious commemoration. Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a pillar of the Islamic Revolution three decades ago who became a staunch defender of the nation's current opposition movement, died late Saturday of complications from advanced age, diabetes and asthma, his doctor told state television.