[FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great Forum Index [FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great
Views expressed here are not necessarily the views & opinions of ActivistChat.com. Comments are unmoderated. Abusive remarks may be deleted. ActivistChat.com retains the rights to all content/IP info in in this forum and may re-post content elsewhere.
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

Khomani's grandson

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    [FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great Forum Index -> General Discussion & Announcements
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
blank



Joined: 26 Feb 2004
Posts: 1672

PostPosted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 6:12 pm    Post subject: Khomani's grandson Reply with quote

http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD118406

Khomeini's Grandson: Grandfather's Revolution Devoured its Children, Strayed From Original Course

June 12, 2006
The Middle East Media Research Institute
MEMRI

link to original article

In an interview with the Al-Arabiyya TV website (www.alarabiya.net ) on the occasion of the 17th anniversary of the death of Islamic Republic of Iran founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini's grandson Ayatollah Hussein Khomeini said that the current Iranian regime was "a dictatorship of clerics who control every aspect of life," and called for foreign intervention to topple the regime. [1]

In the interview, Ayatollah Hussein Khomeini argued that the "rule of the jurisprudent" was not based on Shi'ite religious principle, but developed for historical reasons having to do with persecution of clerics in pre-revolutionary Iran. He also says that in its current form, the revolution has "strayed from its original course" by abandoning the principles of freedom and democracy, and states that Iran will gain real power only when it re-embraces these principles, not through relying on bombs and weapons.

For the last three years, the Iranian regime has kept Ayatollah Hussein Khomeini under surveillance and has banned him from giving interviews to the Iranian media owing to his criticism of the regime. [2]

The following are highlights from the interview:

Strength Will Not Be Obtained Through Weapons, but Through Freedom and Democracy

Ayatollah Hussein Khomeini told Al-Arabiyya: "Iran will gain [real] power if freedom and democracy develop there. Strength will not be obtained through weapons and the bomb..."

Khomeini also objected to the principle of "[the rule of] the jurisprudent" [velayat-e faqih]. He added: "At the time of the [Islamic] revolution, establishing 'the rule of the jurisprudent' was not one of its main principles. Moreover - and I witnessed this [myself] - [the revolution] called for freedom and democracy. But this changed [in light of] the religious view that prevailed in the religious committees and seminaries.

"Within this religious view, there were two approaches. One, which rejected [the principle of] velayat-e faqih, was represented, for example, by [Ayatollah] Abu Al-Qassem Khoi, the supreme marja' [religious authority] at the time. The second approach advocated velayat-e faqih, [but this approach] was not based on a religious consideration, but stemmed from historical factors. It arose because the religious seminaries were oppressed for many years, especially [in the time of Shah] Reza Khan Pahlavi in Iran [1921-1941], who persecuted the clerics. In response, the clerics lay in wait [for an opportunity] to seize power. This approach was fostered by the many of the wearers of the turban, and I do not say 'religious scholars' so as not to [include] Khomeini [in this category]."

The Revolution Persecuted its Leaders

"My grandfather's revolution has devoured its children and has strayed from its course. I lived through the revolution, and it called for freedom and democracy - but it persecuted its leaders. For example [Ayatollah Mahmoud] Taleqani, who was frequently imprisoned in the days of the Shah, and after the revolution was harshly persecuted by [the regime] for denouncing violations of the law. He consequently [had to] go into hiding, while grieving and protesting. He protested against the establishment of the revolutionary committees that ruled in an arbitrary and disorganized [manner], and against the persecution of his family...

"The revolution rocked the foundations of society, which had [previously] been conservative and had rejected freedom. The revolution prepared society to accept democracy and freedom. Thanks to the revolution, all sectors of [the Iranian] society, from the educated class to the peasants and the women, are now able to accept [the notion of] freedom and have become politically aware."

Khomeini further said that his meeting with the son of the deposed Shah Reza Pahlavi was "an ordinary meeting with a man who shares my suffering. The [cause] of our suffering is one and the same, namely tyranny, though each of us has his own [political] orientation..."

Addressing the issue of the hijab (i.e. the veil), Khomeini said that if he came to power in Iran, he would first of all "pass a law which makes the wearing of the hijab an optional choice for Iranian women. The Iranian regime shackles women by forcing [them to wear] the hijab in its ugliest form - namely a black [veil], even though the [veil] may be colorful. Girls coming out of schools or out of the university [campuses look] depressingly somber. I am personally in favor of the hijab, but not like this. The hijab is a personal issue. If a woman wants, she may [wear it], and if she doesn't [want it], she may [refuse it]. Many female relatives of my grandfather Khomeini did not wear the hijab..."

Khomeini Calls for Foreign Military Intervention in Iran

The Al-Arabiyya website stated: "As for his call to American President George Bush to come and occupy Iran, Hussein Khomeini explained that 'freedom must come to Iran in any possible way, whether through internal or external developments. If you were a prisoner, what would you do? I want someone to break the prison [doors open]...'"

At the end of the interview, Hussein Khomeini remarked that he believes his father Mustafa to have been poisoned, though, to this day, it is not clear who was responsible. [3]

[1] Ayatollah Hussein Khomeini was born in Tehran in 1958. In 1965, he emigrated with his family to Iraq, where he studied in a religious seminary. After the Iraqi Ba'th revolution of 1968, he returned to Iran. He defines himself as a "liberal religious person."

[2] http://www.alarabiya.net/Articles/2006/05/31/24251.htm, May 31, 2006.
[3] The Al-Arabiyya website writes that the death of Mustafa Khomeini was the main cause for the outbreak of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
blank



Joined: 26 Feb 2004
Posts: 1672

PostPosted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 6:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Unlikely Pair Emerges as Foe Of Iran Regime
BY ELI LAKE - Staff Reporter of the New York Sun
June 13, 2006
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/34321

Two scions of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran are emerging as emboldened opponents of the regime in Tehran, reviving the prospect that the son of the former shah may collaborate with the grandson of the ayatollah who deposed him.

In a reversal of historical roles, it was Reza Pahlavi, heir to the Peacock Throne, who was last week in Paris - the safe haven of Ayatollah Khomeini immediately before the 1979 revolution - drumming up support from French legislators for his plan of nonviolent regime change.

Meanwhile, at the spiritual center of Iran's Shiite theocracy, Qom, the grandson of Khomeini, broke a near three-year silence in the press, and publicly gave his support for a Western armed intervention in his country.

The public statements from Hossein Khomeini are especially relevant given the recent unrest in Iran. In the last two months, the ruling mullahs have had to contend with a rash of demonstrations from ethnic Azeris, disgruntled students, and now women's groups. Yesterday about 200 women from a group called the Labor and Communist Party staged a demonstration in Tehran Square at which 20 of the demonstrators were detained, according to the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, dissident journalist Akbar Ganji is scheduled to visit Italy and France this week on a tour of the West in which he has been urging newspapers, activists, and other civil society groups to step up their solidarity with Iran's nonviolent opposition.

Yesterday the Middle East Media Research Institute translated an interview Mr. Khomeini gave on May 31, the anniversary of his grandfather's death, to the Arabic satellite station, al-Arabiya. In it he did not mince words.

"My grandfather's revolution has devoured its children and has strayed from its course," he said. "I lived through the revolution, and it called for freedom and democracy - but it persecuted its leaders."

Mr. Khomeini then noted the fate of Ayatollah Mahmoud Taleqhani, who was driven into hiding after the revolution, despite his opposition to the Shah.

Hossein Khomeini emerged in the fall of 2003 as one of the least likely enemies of the Islamic Republic that his famous grandfather helped create in 1978 and 1979 during the country's revolution, when he visited Washington and New York in September and October to give speeches and interviews calling for an armed intervention to depose the ruling clerics. But soon after his visit to America, the young cleric went back to Iran at the urging of his family and kept his thoughts on regime change at least to himself.
When Mr. Khomeini returned to Iran, many of his close followers had assumed that he had been lured back to the country for the safety of his family. A senior researcher yesterday at the London based Center for Arab-Iranian Studies who has been in touch with the grand ayatollah's grandson, Alireza Nourizadeh, said he was able to return safely to Iran only after Khomeini's widow and Hossein's grandmother, Batol Saqafi Khomeini, sent a stern warning to Iran's supreme leader.
"She sent a message to the director of Ayatollah Khomeini's personal office, a man named Mohammadi Golpaygani. The message was, 'My grandson is going to come back. If anything happens to him, even if he has been taken for questioning, I will not be silent,'" Dr. Nourizadeh said.
Dr. Nourizadeh added that Mr. Khomeini lived with his grandmother in Tehran for three weeks upon returning to Iran and then began a mentorship with Iran's most senior cleric and a harsh critic of the mullahs, Ayatollah Ali Montazeri.

The tutelage of Mr. Montazeri has not tempered the opinions of the young Khomeini. When asked by al-Arabiya about his earlier calls for America to invade, he said, "Freedom must come to Iran in any possible way, whether through internal or external developments. If you were a prisoner, what would you do? I want someone to break the prison."

By contrast, the son of the Shah, Reza Pahlavi, is not such a hardliner. In this week's issue of Time Magazine's European edition, Mr. Pahlavi said he could not imagine an American invasion of Iran. "I cannot foresee any military action which could be feasible," he said. "The thought of foreign tanks rolling into Tehran is beyond imagination. No Iranian could tolerate an invasion. It would be an attack on our homeland. Even limited air strikes: If you want to alienate people, strike the first blow."

Mr. Ganji and several student leaders have also come out recently against a foreign invasion or aerial bombing campaign against Iran.

One question that emerged three years ago among the opposition is whether Mr. Pahlavi, who has endorsed nonviolent civil disobedience as the best means of toppling the mullahs, could work with Mr. Khomeini, who told this reporter in 2003 that if the Iranian people ever were to rise up, they would kill the country's current rulers.

During Mr. Khomeini's 2003 visit to Washington he asked author and columnist, Christopher Hitchens, to inquire of Mr. Pahlavi whether he would renounce his claim to the throne in Tehran.

Mr. Hitchens yesterday said Mr. Khomeini "said he heard nice things about him, that he would be ready to work with him on a democratic secular outcome on condition that he renounced the Pahlavi claim to the Iranian throne. And so I put this question to young Reza; and he said he would not do that (he would not abdicate). It was quite clear, he said he did not claim to be the Shah of Iran. But that's not what the message inquires. He wants to know if you renounce the claim."

Mr. Hitchens remembers pressing Mr. Pahlavi on the specific point of renouncing the throne, and Mr. Pahlavi would not abdicate, nor would he criticize some of the human rights abuses of his father's old regime.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
blank



Joined: 26 Feb 2004
Posts: 1672

PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Politics/?id=1.0.1850852706

Khomeini's Grandson Barred From Participating in Elections



February 06, 2008
Adnkronos International ­
AKI

link to original article

Tehran -- Ali Eshraghi, a civil engineer and grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, one of the founding figures of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, has been banned from running in upcoming parliamentary elections, Iranian daily Karghozaran reported.

"Probably my reformist ideas were not liked by members of the Council of Guardians," said Eshraghi.

The Council of Guardians is a conservative-controlled body which vets candidates for parliamentary and presidential elections, and will issue its final verdict on 5 March, only nine days before election day.

Parliamentary elections are slated to take place on 14 March and candidates are overwhelmingly drawn from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's supporters.

Eshraghi is not the first of Khomeini's grandsons to be barred from running for office. In 2004, during the last parliamentary elections, Zahra, Ali Eshraghi's youngest sister was declared unfit to stand as a candidate on the list of the Mosharekat Eslami, or Islamic Cooperation.

Zahra is married to one of the brothers of Iran 's former reformist president Mohammed Khatami. Islamic Cooperation was founded by her husband.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    [FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great Forum Index -> General Discussion & Announcements All times are GMT - 4 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group