Iran opposition calls for mourning

From Al Jazeera

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/12/20091220184013844916.html


Iran's opposition leaders have called for a day of mourning following the death of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a senior cleric who was a fierce critic of the current government.

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, two of the defeated candidates in June's disputed presidential poll, urged their supporters to attend the funeral on Monday, according to a statement on Mousavi's Kaleme.org website.

87-year-old Montazeri was an architect of the 1979 Islamic revolution but fell out with the present leadership.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....

Montazeri criticised authorities of their handling of the disputed election aftermath

"I hope the responsible authorities give up the deviant path they are pursuing and restore the trampled rights of the people," he wrote.

"I hope authorities ... have the courage to announce that this ruling system is neither a republic nor Islamic and that nobody has the right to express opinion or criticism," he said.