5/27/2011
Article - Untitled Article
Publication: Guardian 1821-2000; Date: Sep 14, 1979; Section: None; Page: 8
Draft constitution invests
supreme powers in Khomeini
Iran takes further
1ëjj to theocracy
From Liz Thurgood
in Tehran
iran has taken another step
tow rds a Government of theo-
logians by investing supreme
religious 1 and by implication
political, authority in Ayatollah
Khomeini.,
The decision, contained in
article five of the country 's
draft Constitution, was
announced yesterday Of the 65
council memhers present, only
eight opposed the move and
tour abstained.
The article paved the way
for legalisiug the position of
Ayaioilah Khomeini as inn's
Bead of SValt , Should the
lion Sa lt vacant, a council of
- - - C - -
NINE more people were cxc-
euted in Jran yesterday, for
olfences —Including heroin
smuggling and sodomy the
executions took place In cen-
tral Hamedam Province, the
North-eastern town of Gone
bad-Kavus, the •Kurdlsh city
of Sanandaj, aM L b 1 .. tan of
Baneh.—Reuter ,
)imit on the pDsition has been
set.
Article five, as stated: “Dur-
ing the absence of Imarn
Mehcti. the command and ret-
gious Leadership of the Islamic
republic of Iran ‘will be
entrusted to r—lTJst. enligh-
tened. courageous. arid wise
man who has been recognised
and. accepted by the majority
of the peopLe.
“In cases where one person
does not (command) such a
majority, a council of qualified
jurisprudents fulfilling the
above conditions will be
formed. The members of the
council will be determined by
law.”
_______ According to an expert of
Islamic law: “Article five
gives the country's leader
supreme religious authority
and virtually uncontested sup
port in dealing with State m M-
ters.” Another dcscrib.ed the
position as “unprecedented in
the Shi'it.e Moslem religious
hierarchy.”
clergymen would be authorised
to take over.
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5/27/2011
Article - Untitled Article
The announcement supported The new position has drawn
recent leaks from the Council little erifteism. Only Mr Rarna-
of Experts (Maj1is-e4Chebpe tollah Moghaddam-Maraghaic,
gan), that supreme power In one of 18 secular experts has
Iran would be invested not in pointed out the possible pit'faHs.
a President or Prime Minister, “How can we be sure in the
but in a higher body of theolo- future that we will have a
glans. National sovereignty was leader like Imam Khomeini? ”
also expected to be switched
from the people to Allah. dra-
matiea].lv lowering the status
of the Iranian Parliament as a
legislatory body.
The new post (Vetayat-e-
Fa liih), was seen as an Inte-
gral part of the Shi'ite Moslem
faith embraced by the majority
of Iran 's 35 million people , The original copy of the 151-
The Velayat-e-Fagblh is not an articled, draft constitution, re-
elected pobitlon — the leader leased In Junc, contained no
emerges through a national mention of y e s t e r d a y ‘s
network of mosques and theo- announcement. The Imam
logical schools — and no time Mehdl, revered as the bidden
Imam (leader), disappeared at
the age of seven in the early
part of the ninth century. It is
believed that he will return in
the last days of the world as a
saviour-like flgure.
On paper, the Velayat-e-
Faghih gives the country's
leader absolute powers, more
wide-ranging th*n the Shah's.
were. But in practice. much w i n
depend on the will of Iranians
to make the new system work
democratically.
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