Ali Khamenei: Difference between revisions
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==Human rights and terrorism== |
==Human rights and terrorism== |
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Khamenei has said that human rights is a fundamental principle underlying Islamic teachings, including the rights to live, to be free, to benefit from justice and to welfare. He has criticised western human rights advocates for hypocrisy by economically oppressing people in [[Third World]] countries and supporting despots and dictators. <ref> [http://www.irib.ir/occasions/Rahbar/human-rights-in-islam.htm Human Rights in Islam], ''[[Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting]]'', [[1997-01-31]], accessed on [[2007-01-08] </ref> |
Khamenei has said that human rights is a fundamental principle underlying Islamic teachings, including the rights to live, to be free, to benefit from justice and to welfare. He has criticised western human rights advocates for hypocrisy by economically oppressing people in [[Third World]] countries and supporting despots and dictators. <ref> [http://www.irib.ir/occasions/Rahbar/human-rights-in-islam.htm Human Rights in Islam], ''[[Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting]]'', [[1997-01-31]], accessed on [[2007-01-08] </ref> |
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He usually claims that the American administration has committed many crimes and is therefore not authorized to judge human rights in Iran. <ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/international/newsid_5045000/5045704.stm]</ref> |
He usually claims that the American administration has committed many crimes and is therefore not authorized to judge human rights in Iran. <ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/international/newsid_5045000/5045704.stm]</ref> |
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Revision as of 04:00, 18 January 2007
Ali Khamenei | |
|---|---|
| File:Khamenei-new.jpg | |
| 2nd Supreme Leader of Iran | |
| Assumed office 4 June 1989 | |
| Preceded by | Ruhollah Khomeini |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 17, 1939 Mashhad,Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran |
| Political party | Islamic Republic Party (when president) |
 |
|---|
| Government of Islamic Republic of Iran |
Grand Âyatollâh (Persian: آیتالله سید علی حسینی خامنهای Āyatollāh Seyyed `Alī Ḥoseynī Khāmene'ī) (Also known as : Seyyed Ali Khamene'i) born 17 July 1939[1], is the current Supreme Leader of Iran and was the president of Iran from 1981 to 1989.
Early life and clerical ranking
Born to an ethnic Azeri[2][3][4] family in Mashhad,[5][6] Ali Khamenei began religious studies before completing elementary education. He attended the classes of masters of "Sat'h" (seminary lectures based on reading textbooks) and "Kharej" (seminary lectures not based on reading textbooks) in Mashhad, such as Haj Sheikh Hashem Qazvini, and Ayatollah Milani, and then went to Najaf in 1957.[7]
After a short stay he left Najaf to Mashhad, and in 1958 he settled in Qom. Khamenei attended the classes of Ayatollah Boroujerdi and Ayatollah Khomeini. Later, he was involved in the Islamic activities of 1963 which led to his arrest in the city of Birjand, in Southern Khorasan Province. After a short period he was released and continued his life by teaching in religious schools of Mashhad and holding Nahaj-ul-Balagheh lesson sessions in different mosques.[8]
Ali Khamenei was not a marja when he was elected as the Supreme leader of Iran.[9] Since the constitution required the Superme Leader to be a marja, a new amendment to the constitution to allow a cleric of his then-status to be elected as the Supreme Leader was required. Since this had not been put to a referendum yet, the Assembly internally titled him a temporary office holder until the new constitution became effective. The choice of Khamenei, who was soon after addressed as Ayatollah but whose ijtihad (jurisprudence) credentials were disputed, is said to be a political one.[10]. In 1994, after the death of Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Mohammad Ali Araki, the Society of Teachers of Qom declared Khamenei as a new marja. However, four of the world's Grand Ayatollahs declined to recognize Khamenei as a marja.[11] To remedy the situation, he refused the offer of marja'iyat for Iran, as he explained, due to other heavy responsibilities, but agreeing to be the marja for the Shi'as outside of Iran. His acceptance of marja'iyat for Shi'as outside Iran has neither traditional nor theological precedence in Shi'ism. Marja'iyat can be, and in modern times it increasingly is, transitional. [12]
Theoretically, the Islamic republic system (vilayat-i faqih, leadership of the supreme jurisprudent) is said to be legitimate when a Grand Ayatollah who is recognized as a marja serves as the faqih (jurisprudent). Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Shirazi, among others, did not accept Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a marja. According to "Human Rights in Iran" (2001) by Pace University's Reza Afshari, Shirazi was "indignant" over Khamenei's efforts to be recognized as the Supreme Leader and as a marja. Shirazi (who died in late 2001) apparently favored a committee of Grand Ayatollahs to lead the country. Other marjas who questioned the legitimacy of Khamenei's marja'yat were: dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri-Najafabadi, Grand Ayatollah Hassan Tabatabai-Qomi and Grand Ayatollah Yasubedin Rastegari.[13]
Political life and Presidency
Khamenei was a key figure in the Islamic revolution in Iran and a close confidant of Ayatollah Khomeini. Khamenei was appointed to the powerful post of Tehran's Friday Prayer Leader by Ayatollah Khomeini in the autumn of 1979, after the resignation of Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri from the post. In June 1981, Ayatollah Khamenei narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb, concealed in a tape recorder at a press conference, exploded beside him. He was permanently injured, but the event helped affirm his reputation as a "living martyr" among his followers.
In 1981, after the assassination of Mohammad Ali Rajai, Ayatollah Khamenei was elected President of Iran by a landslide vote in the Iranian presidential election, October 1981 and became the first cleric to serve in the office. Ayatollah Khomeini had originally wanted to keep clerics out of the presidency, but this view was compromised. Many saw Khamenei's presidency as a sign that Islamic modernists were being isolated by the Supreme Leader and that the Islamic revolution was embracing more fully the concept of Vilayat-e Faqih or Guardianship of the Jurists.
Of the total 16,841,800 total votes, the following numbers were won by each candidate:
| Candidate | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| Ali Khamenei | 16,003,242 | 95.02 % |
| Ali Akbar Parvaresh | 342,600 | 2.034 % |
| Hassan Ghafourifard | 78,559 | 0.467 % |
| Reza Zavare'i | 62,133 | 0.369 % |
| Blank or invalid votes | 356,266 | 2.12 % |
He was re-elected to a second term in 1985, capturing 85.66% of total votes.[14] As a close ally of Khomeini, he rarely clashed with the Supreme Leader during his term in office, unlike Iran's first president, Abolhassan Banisadr.
Supreme Leader (Velāyat-e faqih)
Seyyed Ali Khamene'i was preceded by Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of Islamic Revolution in Iran. When Khomeini died, Khamenei was elected as the new Supreme Leader by the Assembly of Experts on June 4, 1989.
Electing an Islamic leader superior to all national and lawful organs is called Velayat e Faqih, first stated by Ayatollah Naraqi and expanded and revised by Ayatollah Khomeini. In this kind of leadership every decision is lawful only after approval of the supreme leader (Vali e Faqih, ولی فقیه in Persian). According to this theory, even democratic acts like national election of presidents (which happens every four years in Iran) are lawful only when the Supreme Leader signs his approval.
Domestic policy
Ali Khamenei has been supportive of science progress in Iran. He was among the first Islamic clerics not to outlaw stem cell research and therapeutic cloning.[15] In 2004, Ayatollah Khamenei said that the country's progress is dependent on investment in the field of science and technology. He also said that attaching a high status to scholars and scientists in society would help talents to flourish and science and technology to become domesticated, thus ensuring the country's progress and development.[16]
Foreign policy
After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, he condemned the act and the attackers and called for a condemnation of terrorist activities all over the world, whether in the United States, Israel, the Balkans, or elsewhere [17]. Candlelight vigils in Iran for the victims of the 9/11 attacks were commonplace during the next several nights.
On June 4, 2006, Seyyed Ali Khamenei said that Iran would disrupt energy shipments from the Persian Gulf region should the country come under attack from the US, insisting that Tehran will not give up its right to produce nuclear fuel.
Human rights and terrorism
Khamenei has said that human rights is a fundamental principle underlying Islamic teachings, including the rights to live, to be free, to benefit from justice and to welfare. He has criticised western human rights advocates for hypocrisy by economically oppressing people in Third World countries and supporting despots and dictators. [18]
He usually claims that the American administration has committed many crimes and is therefore not authorized to judge human rights in Iran. [19]
Khamenei introduced the concept of "insider-outsider". Accordingly, in his administration outsiders have less rights compared to insiders and cannot have any administrative posts.
In February 2004 Parliament elections, the Council of Guardians disqualified thousands of candidates, including many of the reformist members of the parliament and all the candidates of the Islamic Iran Participation Front party from running. The conservatives won about 70% of the seats.
In a visit with Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, Khamenei praised Mesbah’s books and thoughts as being original, very useful, solid and correct. He also stated that Islamic world needs these ideas today more than any time in the past. [20]
Nuclear Weapons
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has issued a fatwa saying the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons was forbidden under Islam. The fatwa was cited in an official statement by the Iranian government at an August 2005 meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna [21][22]
Ali Khamenei and Iran's elections
Ayatollah Khamenei did not let Ebrahim Yazdi or Hooshang Amirahmadi (among others) run in the 2005 presidential election. He also did not allow 80 members of the 6th Iranian parliament (including the deputy speaker) to run in the 7th parliamentary election.[citation needed]
Family Life and Children
Khamenei has four sons and 2 daughters, Mojtaba, Mostafa, Massoud, Maysam, Boshra, and Hoda, according to Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel. Like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other prominent figures of the Islamic Republic, he claims to lead a modest household. [23]
Government posts
Since the founding of the Islamic Republic, he has held many government posts[24]
- 1979 - Founded the Islamic Republic party, along with like-minded clerics such as Mohammad Beheshti, Mohammad Javad Bahonar, Abdolkarim Mousavi Ardebili, and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
- 1980 - Secretary of Defense.
- 1980 - Supervisor of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards.
- 1980 - Leader of the Friday Congregational Prayer.
- 1980 - The Tehran Representative in the Consultative Assembly.
- 1981 - Ayatollah Khomeini's Representative in the High Security Council.
- 1982 - Elected President of the Islamic Republic of Iran after assassination of Muahmmad Ali Raja’i, and was re-elected to a second term in 1985.
- 1982 - chairman of the High Council of Revolution Culture Affairs.
- 1988 - President of the Expediency Council.
- 1989 - Chairman of the Constitution Revisal Committee.
- 1989 - Ayatollah Khamenei became the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran by choice of the Council of Experts, after the death of Ayatollah Khomeini.
Representatives
Ayatollah Khamenei has numerous representatives in different organizations (army, judiciary system, universities etc.) and cities. Here are his most notable representatives:
- Abdolhossein Moezi (Representative of the Vilayat-e-faqih in London)
- Hossein Shariatmadari (his representative at Kayhan)
- Ahmad Jannati (Head of Guardian council)
- Ahmad Khatami (Tehran's Friday prayer Imam)
- Mohammad Yazdi (member of Guardian council and former head of Judiciary system where he served for 10 years)
- Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi (head of Judiciary system)
- Rahim Safavi (commander of revolutionary Guard)
- Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi (The High Council of Cultural Revolution and Expediency Discernment Council)[citation needed]
- Ali Larijani (acted as the head of IRIB for 10 years)
Books and Articles
- Human Rights in Islam thesis
See also
References
- ^ http://www.leader.ir/langs/EN/index.php?p=bio
- ^ http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53543
- ^ http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HF08Ak02.html
- ^ http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=2476
- ^ Eternal Iran, Patrick Clawson, 2005, ISBN 1-4039-6276-6, p.5.
- ^ http://www.leader.ir/langs/EN/index.php?p=bio
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ [4]
- ^ [5]
- ^ [6]
- ^ [7]
- ^ [8]
- ^ http://www.channel4.com/news/special-reports/special-reports-storypage.jsp?id=1907
- ^ [9]
- ^ [10]
- ^ Human Rights in Islam, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, 1997-01-31, accessed on [[2007-01-08]
- ^ [11]
- ^ Khamenei visits Mesbah Yazdi
- ^ [12]
- ^ Iran MPs oblige government to revise IAEA cooperation, Reuters, Dec 27, 2006
- ^ [13]
- ^ http://www.leader.ir/langs/EN/index.php?p=bio
External links
- The e-office of the Supreme Leader of Iran
- The official website of Ayatollah Khamenei
- Statement about a Fatwa Against the Production, Stockpiling and use of Nuclear Weapons
- BBC News' profile on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
- PARADE Magazine's 2006 Annual List Of The World’s 10 Worst Dictators
- Iran Media Resources