Clerical Error

“Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, Iran’s most senior dissident cleric, has died, official media has reported. Montazeri, 87, was an architect of the 1979 Islamic revolution who fell out with the present leadership. He had been held under house arrest for several years. ‘Hossein Ali Montazeri passed away in his home last night,’ the official IRNA news agency said on Sunday. He lived in the city of Qom, which lies south of Tehran, and was referred to as the spiritual leader of the opposition after the country’s recent disputed election. Ghanbar Naderi, an Iran Daily journalist, told Al Jazeera: “This is huge blow to the reformist camp, because he is unreplaceable and nobody is happy to hear about his sad demise. ‘He used to say that religion should be separated from politics, because in this way, we can keep the integrity of religion intact.’”