Iranian ayatollah’s funeral turns into anti-regime protest

France24 -- Ayatollah Taheri, a cleric close to Iran’s reformist movement, was laid to rest on Tuesday in the central Iranian city of Isfahan. Just 10 days ahead of Iran’s presidential election, the funeral procession quickly turned into a protest, with participants chanting slogans against the government and in favour of opposition leaders.

In 1978, Taheri was appointed a prayer leader in Isfahan by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution. Taheri enjoyed strong popular support, especially from his city’s conservatives, and had a warm relationship with Khomeini. However, he got along less well with Khomeini’s successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is Iran’s current Supreme Leader. This led Taheri to resign from his position in 2002, and to send Khamenei a scathing open letter. In this letter, he criticised, among other things, the country’s “lack of dedication to the law”, “irresponsible institutions”, “unsuccessful foreign policy makers”, “unlawful incarceration of journalists”, and “wrongful supervision of [political] factions”.

“People chanted the names of opposition leaders”

Mohammad Nourizad is a former documentary filmmaker and a supporter of the Green Movement, which was brutally repressed following the disputed 2009 election. He has been arrested multiple times over the past few years for criticizing Iran’s Supreme Leader.

During the protest, which leaders of some banned political parties attended, I heard people chant slogans praising Ayatollah Taheri, but also slogans such as ‘death to the dictator’ and ‘political prisoners must be freed.’ Some chanted the names of opposition leaders, including Medhi Karoubi and Mir Hussein Mousavi [who both ran in the 2009 presidential elections and are now under house arrest].

This is the first time since the Green Movement protests that Isfahan has seen such a massive gathering, where such strong slogans are chanted. People took advantage of this funeral to say all the things they haven’t been able to express since then, because they are not allowed to speak their minds at political meetings.

I didn’t see the police use violence, or arrest anyone. I believe this is the first time police have treated protesters in a logical manner in years.