Source: Grand Ayatollah Montazeri's website
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Letter of Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi:
In the Name of God, the Merciful and the Compassionate,
To the honorable Marja, the Grand Ayatollah Montazeri,
Greetings,
I released the attached statement in response to the events of the past few months. We have always felt a need to work with the honorable marjas and devoted clerics, and this encouraged me to send a copy to you in order to ask for your guidance.
The first goal of this statement is [to disseminate the message] that if people feel anger and discontent, they should not direct the negative feelings that fill their hearts toward religion. This reminder is the responsibility of all of those who have been deeply influenced by Islam – especially the clerical elite. They must not allow different social groups (especially the youth, who compose the majority of our population) to be fooled by the shallow, mistaken and selective interpretations of our religion and to distance themselves from Islam based on sudden surges of emotion.
State media persistently attempts to portray us as the source behind the recent unrest. All this, while the behavior of officials (not only in the election, but in years before) has created a mountain of straw that was set ablaze by the recent blunders. The wind of arrogance that was blown through this mountain created bigger and bigger fires each and every day. I personally take the side of a people whose rights have been trampled with illegal, unIslamic and unjustified actions. By referring to undisputed documents, I am certain that without a doubt, there has been systematic fraud in the recent election. At the same time, it would not have been difficult to stay silent for another 20 years if I didn’t feel an imminent threat to the system in the people’s wave of anger.
However, if one [leader] keeps silent and yields, the people will not renounce their movement similar to what they have never done so in the past. Instead, after a brief period of confusion, the movement would start anew. Their movement would start again, this time blind, with none of the devotees of the establishment to rely upon. Then, maybe others who have their eyes set upon our nation would step in to take advantage of this movement with their own intentions and to feed their own greed.
Another goal of this statement, along with my other statements and activities, is to keep the people’s movement within the framework of the establishment so that it doesn’t sink into the dangerous path of bringing down the whole structure. If this danger is turned into reality, it could easily make another Afghanistan or Iraq out of Iran. We cannot forget our duty to prevent such dangers from spiraling, just to make some ignorant people happy. Similarly, we cannot invite people to keep calm if we are unable to prove to them that we stand and speak for their well-deserved rights on their behalf.
In his treatise titled Olfat, the late Mullah Mohsen Feyz Kashani writes that the final goal of most sharia laws is to establish friendship and belonging in society. The result of this friendship and belonging is what modern sciences call social networks – a means to restrain ruling systems and to keep them from repeating mistakes, and a method to create a society infused with life and a platform to gently hold on to ignited emotions and talents and to keep them from descending into the hills of destruction. In this statement, a strengthening of these networks has been suggested. According to the words of Feyz, this network could be perceived as the exemplar of Islam, although those who are grossly unfair portray it as a paradigm of the CIA.
And, finally, I hope you will attend to my suggestions on solving the current crisis as outlined in this statement.
With regards,
Mir Hossein Mousavi
13 September 2009
Mir Hossein Mousavi on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=144881017605
Response of the Grand Ayatollah Montazeri:
In the name of God, the Merciful and the Compassionate,
Dear Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi,
May God support your success,
First, please accept my greetings. I received your letter dated 09/12/2009 and reviewed the attachments. You are a man of great character and your commitment to the ethical and religious values and goals of the revolution are obvious to all. The tremendous services of your government during the imposed war, and your constant support of the departed Imam Khomeini (may the love and mercy of God be upon him) are clear to everyone. During the recent presidential election and the subsequent confrontations and atrocities, you became the focus of numerous classes of people and gifted individuals. This was, in fact, a test imposed on you by the great God and by our vigilant people. You have indeed passed it. So far, and to the best of your capacity, you have defended the desecrated rights of those people [whose high turnout and participation in the election] was a great source of pride for our country. As such, you deserve acknowledgement and gratitude.
The initiatives you suggest in the attachment will work to activate and strengthen social networks and organizations. These ideas are prudent and rational, in context with the current conditions of the country, and in accordance with the commands of the holy Quran that tell us:
“O ye who believe! Persevere in patience and constancy; and in such perseverance strengthen each other; and fear God so that ye may prosper.”
If the authorities put aside their act of ignorance and consider [your recommendations] in an unbiased manner, put them to use and put a stop to this environment of policing and detainments, [your ideas] can offer a beneficial and effective path out of the current crisis – a crisis dominating the Islamic republic through their selfishness, pride, mismanagement and ambition. [Your recommendations] could be the stepping stone for a positive move towards reform and towards protecting the system from separation, disintegration and division.
Of course you are aware that in choosing the aforementioned solutions to defend the people’s rights and to ensure the survival of the Islamic Republic, you can expect an arduous task of reform that will be resisted through countless threats and pressures from those who have created the current crisis. Please be confident that through unity, patience and endurance, God has promised to reveal the way to guide people to victory. In addition, [according to the holy Quran in support of humans who struggle down this path God would send his] angels to pronounce messages of security, and strip the heart of all grief and fear.
Unfortunately, many politicians, political activists and journalists were detained after the election. Against Islam and the rule of law they were pressured into false and deceitful confessions, some of which were televised via national media. It is certain and evident that a person’s implication of others under such conditions is without merit and should not be recognized. Moreover, further confirmation exists in the holy stories of the prophet and the Imams that even self-directed confessions extracted under any kind of pressure or torture (including but not limited to threats, intimidation, infliction of physical pain, confinement, and so on) are without merit.
A claim of jurisprudence that denies these lessons is a false one and opinions that negate these lessons clearly deviate [from the true foundations of Islam]. The Quranic verse “self-implication of a rational person is permitted” – confirms that only if revealed without pressure or force, is a confession valid.
In addition, article 38 of the constitution reads: “Any form of torture to force confessions, or to obtain information is forbidden. A person should not be obligated to swear, confess or bear witness as any action of that sort is without worth and legal value. Any defiance of what has been mentioned in this article will be punishable by law.” Based on the general application of this article as well as its implications, any [form] of torture to collect information or to force a confession is unlawful and confessions extracted in such a manner are without legal value and merit.
It is obvious that long-term imprisonment in solitary confinement – an act that places the accused under severe pressure to confess – is a clear example of torture. The confession of the accused (even if it’s self-implication) is neither valid nor recognized when it is a product of exerted pressure and torture, especially in its recent fearsome form and the horrifying consequences. In this situation, repeated confessions (even if announced many times in roundtable discussions and interviews) would be as worthless as the initial confession.
Moreover, it is written in Article 39 of the Constitution that “In accordance with the law, all affronts to the dignity and repute of persons arrested, detained, imprisoned, or banished whatever form they may take, are forbidden and liable to punishment.”
So, what has happened [to this country] now that prominent figures who have a long history of remarkable civil service are desecrated, and not only has nobody been punished, but the perpetrators have even been endorsed and encouraged? Moreover, the “confessions” have been recognized as credible?
What has complicated the problem and invalidated the “confessions” even further is that in our current judicial system, the plaintiffs [and prosecutors] acting against politically accused defendants (in opposition to the current government), are themselves among the interrogators and come from legal institutions tied to the government. Nowhere in the world would any sound reasoning place even the smallest amount of legal credibility or legitimacy on such trials and confessions because the plaintiff and the judge therein are one and the same. Clearly, this is contrary to the condition of having a jury based on Article 168 of the constitution. Unfortunately, this clause – like many others – has also been ignored.
The recent course of action taken by the government (including the staging of the latest show trials) is not only against the law and the benefit of the country, but also unlikely to help the authorities remain in power. If they had been more politically prudent and listened to the warnings of prominent politicians instead of clamping down on people and committing the recent atrocities; if they had listened to religious leaders and chosen an impartial committee accepted by both sides of the conflict, we would have never fallen into the current crisis of illegitimacy.
A government that has dissatisfied many classes of people and placed its intellectuals under duress is not one that will survive. The Shah’s regime could have remained in power if governance was possible with fear-mongering, with oppression and by filling the prisons with gifted, freedom-seeking individuals and various political activists.
By committing such atrocities, a system under the rule of Islam – a system that takes pride in being Shi’ite – generates pessimism towards Islam and proclaims the inability of Islam to bring about justice in a society not only on a global scale but also in our own nation; among our own masses and our youth. Unfortunately, decision-makers at the top have turned a blind eye to these obvious truths and are content to the eulogies from their poets, and the flattery from their fawners. I beseech the great God for your well-being and success on this treacherous path.
May the grace and mercy of God be upon you,
Hosseinali Montazeri
Holy City of Qom
22 September 2009
Mir Hossein Mousavi on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=144891292605
Khordaad 88
http://khordaad88.com/?p=611
Response of the Grand Ayatollah Saanei to Mir Hossein Mousavi's Letter
Source: Grand Ayatollah Saanei’s Website
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
In the name of the Great God,
Greetings to my honourable friend – the kind and faithful Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi, long-time supporter of the departed Imam and of the nation,
I received your letter. We wish you success with your noble plans and projects. We hope that they will be met with increased social awareness – something that has always been at the fore of the missions of the great prophets, the sacrifices of the martyrs, the devotion of the pious and the prayers of those close to God. In addition, we anticipate the attainment of civil rights and the realization of justice as a cultural product of our society.
"Justice will be established by the people"
We must be mindful of the fact that one of the key goals of any plan is to strengthen the union between all abused people because the source of all happiness and hope lies in this very unity on the path of God. We must take great care so that, God forbid, this message of unity does not become a tool for the oppressors to [take advantage of and] attack the oppressed. Such a development would lead to nothing but further oppression.
Holy city of Qom
Yousef Saanei
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Mir Hossein Mousavi on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=144913407605
Khordaad 88
http://khordaad88.com/?p=624
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