Ali Khamenei
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Ayatollah Ali Khamenei |
Âyatollâh (
Persian: آیتالله سید علی حسینی خامنهای) (Also known as : Seyyed Ali Khamene'i) born
April 18,
1939, is the current
Supreme Leader of
Iran and was the president of Iran from 1981 to 1989.
Seyyed Ali Khamene'i was preceded by
Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of
Islamic Revolution in
Iran. Khamene'i's leadership was approved in 1989 by Iranian Council of Scholars, after death of Iran's prior leader.The act of having an islamic leader superior to all national and lawful organs is a theory called
Velayat e Faqih, Firstly provided by
Ayatollah Naraqi, expanded and revised by
Ayatollah Khomeini. In this kind of leadership every decision is lawful only after approval of the supreme leader (
Vali e Faqih, ولی فقیه in Persian). Even democratic acts like national election of presidents (which naturally happens every 4 year in Iran) is lawful only when he signs his approval.
Born to an ethnic
Azeri family in
Mashhad, he was a key figure in the
Islamic revolution and a close confidant of
Ayatollah Khomeini. Khamenei was appointed to the powerful post of Tehran's Friday Prayer Leader by Ayatollah Khomeini in the autumn of 1979, after the resignation of
Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri from the post. In June
1981, Ayatollah Khamenei narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb, concealed in a tape recorder at a
press conference, exploded just beside him. He was permanently injured, but the event helped affirm his reputation as a "living
martyr" among his followers.
Ali Khamenei began religious studies before completing the elementary education. He attended the classes of masters of "Sat'h" (seminary lectures based on reading textbooks) and "Kharej" (seminary lectures not based on reading textbooks) in Mashhad, such as Haj Sheikh Hashem Qazvini, and Ayatollah Milani, and then went to Najaf in 1957.[
1]
After a short stay he left Najaf to Mashhad, and later he settled in Qom in 1958. Khamenei attended the classes of Ayatollah Boroojerdi and Ayatollah Khomeini. Later he was involved in the Islamic activities of 1963 which led to his arrest in the city of Birjand (Southern Khorasan Province). After a short period he was released and continued his life by teaching in religious schools of Mashhad and holding Nahaj-ul-Balagheh lesson sessions in different Mosques.[
2]
Ali Khamenei was a mid-ranking cleric before he was selected as the Supreme leader of Iran.[
3] The choice of Khamenei, who was soon after addressed as
ayatollah but whose
ijtihad (jurisprudence) credentials are disputed, was a political one.[
4] The IRI leadership's attempt to promote Khamenei as the new marja' failed when faced with the
Shia traditions of Marja'iyat. The failure probably became known when unofficial feedback obtained by polling major Shi'i centers suggested that the attempt was unacceptable. To remedy the situation and try to exert some kind of influence, the IRI leadership took three steps. First, to arrange a retreat for Khamenei, by having him refuse the offer of marja'iyat for Iran (as he explained, due to other heavy responsibilities), but agreeing to be the marja' for the Shi'as outside of Iran. His acceptance of
marja'iyat for Shi'as outside Iran has neither traditional nor theological precedence in Shi'ism. Marja'iyat can be, and in modern times it increasingly is, transitional. A marja' in Iran can have muqalids in Lebanon or Pakistan. The problem of national borders was not an issue in the crisis of marja'iyat and his eligibility for the position. [
5]
Theoretically, the Islamic republic system (vilayat-i faqih, leadership of the supreme jurisprudent) is legitimate when a grand ayatollah who is recognized as a source of emulation (marja-yi taqlid) serves as the faqih (jurisprudent). Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Shirazi, like many others, did not accept Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a source of emulation. According to "Human Rights in Iran" (2001) by Pace University's Reza Afshari, Shirazi was "indignant" over Khamenei's efforts to be recognized as the supreme leader and as a source of emulation. Shirazi (who died in late 2001) apparently favored a committee of grand ayatollahs to lead the country. Shirazi was not the only senior cleric to suffer for questioning the legitimacy of Iran's political set-up and its leading figure. One of the best-known dissident clerics is Grand Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri-Najafabadi. Others are Grand Ayatollah Hassan Tabatabai-Qomi and Grand Ayatollah Yasubedin Rastegari.[
6] It is believed that he is interested in poetry and music.
In
1981, after the assassination of
Mohammad Ali Rajai, Ayatollah Khamenei was elected
President of Iran by a landslide vote in the
Iranian presidential election, October 1981 and became the first cleric to serve in the office. Ayatollah Khomeini had originally wanted to keep clerics out of the presidency, but this view was compromised. Many saw Khamenei's presidency as a sign that Iran was abandoning
secularism policy, and becoming more
religious.
Of the total 16,841,800 total votes, the following numbers were won by each candidate:
| Candidate | Votes!% | | Ali Khamenei | 16,003,242 | 95.02 % |
| Ali Akbar Parvaresh | 342,600 | 2.034 % |
| Hassan Ghafourifard | 78,559 | 0.467 % |
| Reza Zavare'i | 62,133 | 0.369 % |
| Blank or invalid votes | 356,266 | 2.12 % |
He was re-elected to a second term in
1985. As a close ally of Khomeini, his term in office rarely clashed with the
Supreme Leader, unlike Iran's first president,
Abolhassan Banisadr. When Khomeini died, Khamenei was elected as the new Supreme Leader by the
Assembly of Experts on
June 4,
1989. Since Khamenei was originally not considered to be as high-ranking a cleric as needed to assume the office, and the new amendment to the constitution that allowed a cleric of his then status to be elected as the
Supreme Leader had not been put to a referendum yet, the Assembly internally titled him a temporary office holder until the new constitution became effectiv.
Ayatollah Khamenei was appointed as Supreme Leader of Iran in 1989. Although Khamenei wields the greatest religious and political power of anyone in Iran, he is elected by the Assembly of Experts which is itself elected by the people.
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Khamenei is the commander-in-chief of Iran |
Domestic policy
Ayatollah Khamenei is widely regarded as the figurehead of the country's conservative establishment.[
7] Ayatollah Khamenei has consistently backed the supervisory role of the conservative
Guardian Council. In August 2000, he sided with the Guardian Council in rejecting a Majlis (parliament) bill reforming the country's press law. A letter he wrote to parliament, quoted by the state news agency, said the current law had prevented the "enemies of Islam" from taking over the press.
"Thus any re-interpretation of the law is not in the interests of the country," the letter argued. The letter led to scuffles in the Majlis and to a debate on the powers of the Majlis and the Guardian Council. The press bill was withdrawn. [
8]
Like his predecessor, Khamenei has always tried to respond to the emotions of the mass and control them, a thing which has caused the opponents to accuse him of intolerance. For instance, in 1997, Ayatollah
Hossein Ali Montazeri, a high-ranking cleric and scholar once designated successor of
Ayatollah Khomeini, criticized Khamenei's rule, calling the supreme leader incompetent. After people's demonstrations against Montazeri, Khamenei immediately placed the cleric under house arrest for five years. (Montazeri was denounced by Ayatollah Khomeini, in the latter's last days.)[
9]Montazeri's words were so outrageous that even the reformist president of the time Khatami did not declare any response or attention to them.
Ayatollah Khamenei strongly supports Ayatollah
Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi and his ideas. He considers Ayatollah Mesbah as today's main theoretician of Islamic revolution after
Morteza Motahhari. Motahhari was widely known as main theoretician of Islamic revolution. He was assassinated shortly after revolution.
Iranian president,
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad enjoys full suport from Ali Khamenei. In a speech in 2006 Khamenei said: "This government is the most favorite government of Iran since 100 years ago".[
10] Khamenei's eldest son Mujtaba acted as Ahmadinejad's campaign manager during 2005 presidential election.
Ali Khamenei has been said to be supportive of science progress in Iran. In 2004, Ayatollah Khamenei said that the country's progress is dependent on investment in the field of science and technology. He also said that attaching a high status to scholars and scientists in society would help talents to flourish and science and technology to become domesticated, thus ensuring the country's progress and development.[
11]
Foreign policy
Ayatollah Khamenei is known for his radical anti-Western policies. He has repeatedly denounced the idea of talks with the United States. During and after the US-led war on Iraq, he was sharply critical of Washington's policies.[
12] On the
2000 al-Quds Day Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for the destruction of Israel, as Khomeini had done before.
[CNN report, January 1 2000]After the disaster of
September 11,
2001 he condemned the terrorist attack and called for a condemnation of terrorist activities all over the world, whether in the United States, Occupied Palestine, the Balkan, or elsewhere.
Khamenei claims that "human rights, are a weapon in the hands of our enemies to fight Islam." [
13] He usually says that the American administration with its many crimes and misbehaviors is not authorized for judging about human rights in Iran. [
14]
On
June 4,
2006 Khamenei threatened that Iran would disrupt energy shipments from the Persian Gulf region should the country come under attack from the US, insisting that Teheran will not give up its right to produce nuclear fuel.
Speaking at the Conference for the Unity of Islam, Ali Khamenei said: "human rights, are a weapon in the hands of our enemies to fight Islam."[
15]
According to Reporters sans frontières : "Ali Khamenei [...] is one of the most dangerous predators of press freedom".[
16] Since 2000, he have shut down hundreds of pro-reformist publications and jailed numerous journalists.[
17]
Khamenei introduced the concept of "
insider-outsider". Accordingly in his administration outsiders have less rights compared to insiders and can not have any administrative posts.
In February
2004 Parliament elections, the
Council of Guardians banned thousands of candidates, including most of the reformist members of the parliament and all the candidates of the
Islamic Iran Participation Front party from running. This led to a win by the conservatives of at least 70% of the seats.
Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan says that encouraging computerisation and the Internet has long been a Shia tradition in Iran, and that it was
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who
imported PCs, databases and the internet into the clerical schools in the city of Qum.[
18]
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reputedly issued a
fatwa forbidding the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons. The fatwa was cited in an official statement by the Iranian government at an August 2005 meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna [
19]. However, the fatwa does not appear to have been formally published [
20] which has led to some scepticism over its validity. [
21]
Ali Khamenei is Iran's commander-in-chief, controls the Islamic Republic's intelligence and security operations and has the full resposibility of judiciary system. He also appoints Iran's minister of intelligence. Here is the list of some of the dissidents that were tortured, murdered or executed under his responsibilty:
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Dariush Forouhar (by Ministry of Intelligence)
*
Parvaneh Eskandari (by Ministry of Intelligence)
*
Mohammad Jafar Pooyandeh (by Ministry of Intelligence)
*
Mohammad Mokhtari (by Ministry of Intelligence)
*
Ali Akbar Saidi Sirjani (by Ministry of Intelligence)
*
Zahra Kazemi (by Judiciary system)
*
Saeed Hajjarian (by
Basij, a branch of
Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps)
*
Ezzat Ebrahim-Nejad, (by security forces and
Basij)
*
Majid Sharif (by Ministry of Intelligence)
*
Akbar Mohammadi (by Judiciary system)
*
Ferydoun Farokhzad (by Ministry of Intelligence)
*
Reza Mazlooman (by Ministry of Intelligence)
*
Mozafar Baghaei (by Ministry of Intelligence)
*
Piruz Davani (by Ministry of Intelligence)
*
Sadeq Sharafkandi (by Ministry of Intelligence)
*
Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou (by Ministry of Intelligence)
*
Kazem Sami (by Ministry of Intelligence)
*
Mozafar Baghaei (by Ministry of Intelligence)
*
Human Rights in Islam these
Ayatollah Khamenei has numerous representatives in different organizations (army, judiciary system, universities etc.) and cities. Here are his
most notable representatives:
*
Hossein Shariatmadari (his representative at
Kayhan)
*
Ahmad Jannati (Head of Guardian council)
*
Ahmad Khatami (Tehran's Friday prayer Imam)
*
Mohammad Yazdi (member of Guardian council and former head of Judiciary system where he served for 10 years)
*
Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi (head of Judiciary system)
*
Rahim Safavi (commander of revolutionary Guard)
*
Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi (The High Council of Cultural Revolution and Expediency Discernment Council)
*
Qolamreza Hassani (Urumieh Friday Prayer leader)
*
Ali Larijani (acted as the head of
IRIB for 10 years)
Khamenei has four sons and 2 daughters,
Mojtaba,
Mostafa, Massoud,
Maysam,
Boshra,
Hoda and, according to
Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel, leads an unadorned household. [
22]
*
List of national leaders*
List of Ayatollahs*
Abdolhossein Moezi
Among other sources, Khamenei's Azeri ethnicity is also stated in
Eternal Iran, Patrick Clawson, 2005, ISBN 1403962766, p.5.
*
The e-office of the Supreme Leader*
The official website of Ayatollah Khamenei*
Statement about a Fatwa Against the Production, Stockpiling and use of Nuclear Weapons*
BBC News' profile on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei*
PARADE Magazine's 2006 Annual List Of The World's 10 Worst Dictators{{Persondata
NAME=Khamenei, Seyyed Ali Hosseini | ALTERNATIVE NAMES=آیتالله سید علی خامنهای | SHORT DESCRIPTION=Supreme Leader of Iran since 1989 | DATE OF BIRTH=15 July 1939 | PLACE OF BIRTH=Mashhad, Iran | DATE OF DEATH= | PLACE OF DEATH=
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