Mohammad Montazeri fa, محمد منتظری (1944–28 June 1981) was an Iranian cleric and military figure. He was one of the founding members and early chiefs of the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...
. He was assassinated in a bombing in Tehran on 28 June 1981.
Early life and education
Born in
Najafabad
Najafabad ( fa, نجفآباد, also Romanized as Najafābād) is a city and capital of Najafabad County, Isfahan Province, Iran. At the 2016 census, its population was 293,275, in 90,158 families. It is located west of Isfahan and is increas ...
in 1944, Montazeri was the oldest son of
Grand Ayatollah
Marji ( ar, مرجع, transliteration: ''marjiʿ''; plural: ''marājiʿ''), literally meaning "source to follow" or "religious reference", is a title given to the highest level of Twelver Shia authority, a Grand Ayatollah with the authority giv ...
Hossein Ali Montazeri
Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri ( fa, حسینعلی منتظری ; 24 September 1922 – 19 December 2009) was an Iranian Shia Islamic theologian, Islamic democracy advocate, writer and human rights activist. He was one of the leade ...
.
He had two brothers and two sisters.
In 1963 Montazeri attended religious seminars in Qum together with his long-term confidant
Mehdi Hashemi
Mehdi Hashemi (1944 – 28 September 1987) was an Iranian Shi'a cleric who was defrocked by the Special Clerical Court. After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, he became a senior official in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards; he was executed by the Is ...
and Mehdi's brother Hadi Hashemi who future husband of Montazeri's sister.
Career and activities
Montazeri was a low-ranking and radical cleric.
[ He began opposition activities against ]Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
, title = Shahanshah Aryamehr Bozorg Arteshtaran
, image = File:Shah_fullsize.jpg
, caption = Shah in 1973
, succession = Shah of Iran
, reign = 16 September 1941 – 11 February 1979
, coronation = 26 October ...
after the June 1963 events that led to the exile of Khomeini
Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Imam Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of ...
. His father and he were both arrested by the Shah's security forces in March 1966. In prison Mohammad was tortured and released in 1968.[ He left Iran for Pakistan.][ Then he settled in ]Najaf
Najaf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف) or An-Najaf al-Ashraf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف ٱلْأَشْرَف), also known as Baniqia ( ar, بَانِيقِيَا), is a city in central Iraq about 160 km (100 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated popula ...
, Iraq, in 1971 and stayed there until 1975.[ Next he lived in Afghanistan and in other cities of Iraq.][
He headed an armed group that was based in Syria and Lebanon and fought against Israeli forces.][ The group, namely People's Revolutionary Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, was founded by Montazeri and ]Ali Akbar Mohtashamipur
Ali Akbar Mohtashamipur or Mohtashami ( fa, سید علیاکبر محتشمیپور; 30 August 1947 – 7 June 2021) was an Iranian Shia cleric who was active in the 1979 Iranian Revolution and later became interior minister of the Is ...
with the aim of assisting liberation movements in Muslim countries.
Montazeri was trained in the Fatah camps in Lebanon.[ In addition, he fought with the ]Palestinian Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and s ...
(PLO) and other Palestinian and Shiite armed groups in the country.[ Montazeri was one of the three Iranian key officials along with ]Mostafa Chamran
Mostafa Chamran Save'ei ( fa, مصطفی چمران ساوهای) (2 October 1932 – 21 June 1981) was an Iranian physicist, politician, commander and guerrilla fighter who served as the first defense minister of post-revolutionary Iran ...
and Mohtashamipur who strengthened Iran's commitment to Lebanon. He was called Abu Ahmad by Lebanese people. Montazeri also travelled to Europe during this period.[
In 1978 he occupied the ]Mehrabad airport
Mehrabad International Airport ( fa, فرودگاه بین المللی مهرآباد, ''Foroudgâh-e Beyn Almelali-ye Mehrâbâd'') , is an international airport serving Tehran, the capital city of Iran. Prior to the construction of the larger ...
of Tehran with his 200 armed followers and demanded to go to Libya to search for Musa Al Sadr, a Lebanese Shia cleric who disappeared in Libya in August 1978.[ He visited Ayatollah Khomeini when the latter was in exile in ]Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. Before the 1979 Iranian revolution he was one of the people who promoted the idea of the establishment of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...
.[
During the revolutionary process, he was called "Ayatollah Ringo"][ and "Red Sheikh".] In order to export Islamic revolution to other countries he and Mehdi Hashemi founded one of the earliest groups, the SATJA, in the spring of 1979. In December 1979 he organized a campaign to support and join the Palestinian militants, fighting in the Lebanese civil war
The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...
. His activities in the SATJA caused conflicts with the government, and he was forced to disband it.[
Then he and Hashemi joined the Guards.][ Montazeri headed a faction of the Guards in Tehran that functioned as a strong arm of the Supreme Leader Khomeini.][ It was called Freedom Movements Unit.][ In 1981 this faction was transformed into the office of liberation movements (OLM) which was first led by him and after his death, by Hashemi.] An account with the name liberation movements was opened in the Melli Bank to get financial support from Iranians.[ The OLM put into practice the Iranian support for the Shi‘a movements in Iraq and the ]Gulf
A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodie ...
[ as well as those in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Afghanistan.
At the founding and institutionalization phase of the Guards Montazeri became a member of the Revolutionary Guards Leadership Council in 1979 which was formed by the Revolutionary Council to oversee the future tasks of the Guard. He publicly declared in 1980 that the IRGC personnel "were awaiting deployment from Damascus."
Montazeri joined and led the ]Muslim People's Republic Party
The Muslim People's Republic Party (MPRP) or Islamic People's Republican Party (IPRP; fa, حزب جمهوری خلق مسلمان ایران, Ḥezb-e jomhuri-e ḵalq-e mosalmān-e Irān) was a short-lived party associated with Shia Islamic cler ...
and became a member of the first Majlis in March 1980. On the other hand, his party was disbanded after its members were either arrested or executed.[ In addition, Montazeri served at the supreme defense council and was the prayer leader in Tehran until his death.]
Views
Montazeri was one of the most radical followers of Ayatollah Khomeini. Before the Iranian revolution he was close ally of Moammar Qaddafi and advocated strong ties with Libya.[ And, he did not support the approach of the Amal movement and Musa Al Sadr due to its being non-revolutionary.][ Montazeri was also a fierce critic of the ]interim government
A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or f ...
led by Mahdi Bazargan
Mehdi Bazargan ( fa, مهدی بازرگان; 1 September 1907 – 20 January 1995) was an Iranian scholar, academic, long-time pro-democracy activist and head of Iran's interim government. He was appointed prime minister in February 1979 by Aya ...
due to the same reason.[
Both Montazeri and his father actively encouraged the rebellion of ]Shia Muslim
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most ...
s against the governments in the Muslim countries and also, strongly argued for the export of the Islamic regime to other countries, often called "Islamic Internationale". The latter goal was mostly achieved through the OLM,[ and it is one of two pillars of ideology guided the revolution along with the propagation of ]Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
. In addition, he argued that all Muslims could enter Islamic states without passport or visas.
Montazeri supported the development of links with Shia Muslims in Lebanon.[ He tried to make Iran a key player in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.][ Just three days before his death, he argued for the execution of the followers of the ousted prime minister Abolhassan Bani Sadr.][
]
Controversy
At the initial phase of the Iranian revolution the activities of the Montazeri's group, SATJA, led to tensions between Montazeri and both the Guards's leadership and the provisional government.[ His father, Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, publicly reprimanded him and stated that Mohammad had poor mental health because he had been tortured by the former Shah's secret police.][ Eventually, elder Montazeri disassociated himself from his son’s activities.][
Mohammad Montazeri was part of the Libya-friendly group in the court of Khomeini, and there was a feud between his group and the faction, called "Syrian mafia", led by ]Sadegh Ghotbzadeh
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh ( fa, صادق قطبزاده, 24 February 1936 – 15 September 1982) was an Iranian politician who served as a close aide of Ayatollah Khomeini during his 1978 exile in France, and foreign minister (30 November 1979 – ...
. Ghotbzadeh's faction was called previously the Liberation Movement of Iran (LMI), and Mostafa Chamran was also part of it.[ In addition, Montazeri had serious disagreements with Ayatollah ]Mohammad Beheshti
Mohammad Hosseini Beheshti ( fa, سیّد محمد حسینی بهشتی; 24 October 1928 – 28 June 1981) was an Iranian jurist, philosopher, cleric and politician who was known as the second person in the political hierarchy of Iran after t ...
, cofounder of the Islamic Republican Party.[
]
Death
Montazeri was killed in a bombing at the central headquarters of the then ruling party, Islamic Republican Party, in Tehran on 28 June 1981. The Islamic Republic of Iran suspected various organizations and individuals, including SAVAK
SAVAK ( fa, ساواک, abbreviation for ''Sâzemân-e Ettelâ'ât va Amniat-e Kešvar'', ) was the secret police, domestic security and intelligence service in Iran during the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty. SAVAK operated from 1957 until prime ...
, the Iraqi regime, the People's Mujahedin of Iran
The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), also known as Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) or Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) ( fa, سازمان مجاهدين خلق ايران, sâzmân-e mojâhedīn-e khalq-e īrân), is an Iranian pol ...
, the United States, royalist army officers, and "internal mercenaries". The death toll in the attack was 73, including Behesti, cabinet ministers and the members of the Majlis.[ A state funeral was held for the victims on 30 June and a week of mourning was proclaimed.][ Montazeri was buried in the ]Fatima Masumeh Shrine
The Shrine of Fatima Masumeh ( fa, حرم فاطمه معصومه translit. ''haram-e fateme-ye masumeh'') is located in Qom, which is considered by Shia Muslims to be the second most sacred city in Iran after Mashhad.
Fatima Masumeh was the ...
in Qom where his father would also be buried on 21 December 2009.
Four Iraqi agents and Mehdi Tafari were executed for the incident.
Legacy
A street in Qom was named after him, Martyr Mohammad Montazeri boulevard.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montazeri, Mohammad
20th-century Iranian politicians
1944 births
1981 deaths
Assassinated Iranian politicians
Iranian revolutionaries
Iranian Shia clerics
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers
Members of the 1st Islamic Consultative Assembly
Muslim People's Republic Party politicians
People from Najafabad
People murdered in Iran
People of the Iranian Revolution