Photo: Iranian TV
In an interview with the reformist online daily Rooz, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, one of the clerics critical of the Iranian regime, said that the "rule of the jurisprudent" was originally meant to be a tool for jurisprudent oversight of regime apparatuses, and not, as is happening today, complete involvement in political life by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, which he said stops independent activity by the government and keeps the country from progressing.
He added that Khamenei's involvement in the area of authority of the president and his government was preventing the presidency from functioning properly, and required that the president, whoever he might be, resign.
Montazeri added that the power struggles among the regime institutions, including the government headed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Expediency Council headed by Hashemi Rafsanjani, and the office of the Supreme Leader, made it more difficult to run the country.
He said that the monopoly on the regime held by two or three people in the country completely ruled out any role by the people, and stated that in the modern world this model of rule had been deemed a failure.
Montazeri added that that the Ministry for Intelligence Affairs served to "tailor cases" against people.
Source: Rooz, Iran, August 10, 2008
