Iran's leading dissident cleric to be freed from house arrest

Iran's foremost clerical dissident is to be freed from house arrest in the next two days because of fears over his health.

Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, 80, was once seen as the successor to the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He has been confined to his home and banned from teaching since 1997 for criticising the ruling clerical hierarchy.

Analysts said hardliners feared that his death under house arrest in the holy city of Qom, 75 miles south-west of Tehran, could become a lightning rod for protests against the political system.

The Supreme National Security Council – made up of government, judicial and parliamentary leaders as well as representatives of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the armed forces – made the decision to lift the house arrest, which will take effect today or tomorrow.

His release would be a fillip for reformists allied to President Mohammad Khatami. Scores of reformist activists, journalists and academics have been jailed in recent years by the hardline judiciary.

Mohammad Naimipour, parliamentary faction head of Iran's main reformist party, said: "His freedom is very valuable for the reformist front. He is famous for his bravery and as a supporter of liberty."

A growing number of clerics, scholars and politicians from across Iran's divided political spectrum have called in recent weeks for Grand Ayatollah Montazeri to be released after reports that his health had taken a turn for the worse.

His son, Ahmad Montazeri, said: "My father's health is better than last week, but he is old and he has a bad heart.

"My father has not asked for any pardon and has not given any promises," he said, adding that once released, the popular cleric "will take positions whenever he feels it is necessary".

Ayatollah Khomeini had nominated Grand Ayatollah Montazeri to succeed him as supreme leader, once calling him "the fruit of my life". But the liberal cleric fell foul of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1988, a year before the revolutionary leader died, after criticising the execution of political prisoners and human rights abuses.

He completed his alienation from the ruling establishment in 1997 with a damning critique of the institution of supreme clerical rule – velayat-e faqih – and its current holder, Ayatollah Khamenei. He regularly issues statements calling for pluralism and tolerance, and demanding limits on the power of the Supreme Leader. (Reuters)