Tehran mourns the ayatollah of moderation

          
          5/27/2011 Article - Untitled Article
          Publication: Guardian 1821-2000; Date: Sep 11, 1979; Section: None; Page: 6
          Death of Taleghani will Shake
          Iran's political balance
          Tehran mourns
          the ayatollah
          of moderation
          From Liz Thurgood
          in Tehren
          Thousands of people poured
          on to the streets to pay
          homage to Ayatollah Mahmoud
          Taleghani, the country's
          aecond'ranklaag religious loader.
          who died yesterday.
          The Ayatollah, aged 68, dIed
          THAN'S itinerant Shelkie
          TIlsalkItelil yesterday ordered
          his men to gouge out the
          eyes and smack In the teeth
          at a man los Kardistan found
          guilty of to 1 h . —J .,-lng the
          Shah a regime. Relatives of
          the anon he hind tortured
          rushed forward, however, and
          saved bliss from the punish-
          ment after only three teeth
          had been extracted.
          of heart failure at his home In
          central Tehrsn, reportedly
          after a meeting with the Soviet
          Ambassador. immediately after
          hia death, the Government
          news agency revealed for the
          Scat time that Taleghaci had
          held the presidency of the sha-
          dowy Totemic Revolutionary
          Council, Iran's supreme law.
          making bsyr—
          Taleghani's sudden departure
          Is expscted to upset radically
          whatever political balance still
          existed Is the trouble-torn
          country, Ever since the ayatol-
          lahs swept 1 0 power last Feb-
          ruar y. TaleghanI has been seen
          as e moderating force who
          managed the strasat impossible
          tack of apanning Moslem Right
          and aeeu lsr Left.
          Yesterday's show of grief
          was unprecedented, genuine,
          and at times nearly byetertesl,
          an thousands of weeping
          Iranians accompanied the body
          ieslste-e-Zahra, the htg
          cemetery in south Tehraa, The
          Prime Minister, Dr Benargan,
          who had epsnt many years In
          prison with the Aystsltsh, woe
          distressed as he joined the
          marchers following the body
          covered by a simple cotton
          quilt.
          An Indicat len of his high-
          level, but little-knows involve-
          ment with State aflaim came In
          the Government's announce-
          ment that the Ayatollah's
          death followed a 2 -haur
          meeting with the Soviet
          Ambassador, Mr Vladimir
          Viraogradov. Although so de-
          tails were available, the (elks
          were believed to have involved
          tbe Ayatollah's recent charges
          of Soviet Involvement In the
          western province of Kurdlatas,
          © Guardian News and Media Limited
          and a heated desist from Mos-
          cow.
          Ayatollah Khomeini's mea-
          sage of condolence from Qons
          was brief: 5' 1 did not expect
          to cursive while losing my
          close Mid trusted friends sao
          after another.” Amassine have
          killed three close aldea.
          But the death of a man
          whosa popularity had come
          close to rivatting that of Ays-
          tellah Khomeini htmeetf raised
          the immediate question of who
          would succeed Taleghani to
          several key psaitiene. In oddi-
          tion to heading tha Revolu-
          tinnary Council. the Ayatollah
          hsd a]eo been picked by Kho.
          mcliii to lead Friday prayera
          in Tehran, and had held a seat
          an the eontrsverslel Council of
          Experts which was examining
          the draft censttlutton
          ‘Flee elderly Ayaeoilah Monta-
          sari was expected to replace
          Taleghani St Friday prayere, a
          politically very important event
          hold weekly on tha campus of
          Tshran Univeraity and
          attended by thousands of
          young, politically Idealistic
          iranian Moslema. Ayatollah
          Siit!zsri has been described
          as a Right-wing militant, who
          spent years In the Shah's sante.
          In theory, Mr All Aeger lfaj
          Seyyed Javadi. a Lsft'wing
          writer who played a prominent
          role in (he Shah's overthrow
          and has been a leading crltir
          of the Mosque since, should
          eucesed Ayatollah Taleghani to
          the Council of Experta. The
          writer fsught the August ek'c-
          rises for a Tehrae seat on iho
          cousril, but came in eleventh,
          It was just one place short to
          win him represeulatton from
          ‘l'ehrsn, whir wsa to be repre.
          rented by it seats.
          But It many Iranians, Aya-
          ‘toIlets ‘Fateghani replac-
          able. Tempered by years of
          imprisonment and political
          oppotilian to the Shah, the
          Ayatollah epened his doora to
          all politics! factions, including
          the Marxist Fedayeen and the
          Isisinic Mojshsddeeie-e-Khalq
          guerrillas, whose members
          counted one of his five sans.
          Meanwhile, 28 soldiers have
          bean murdered in the small
          town of Ssqqea, close to the
          kaqi border, Iran's ChIef-of-
          Staff said yeaftr8ay. The
          murder, mid Major-General
          Ilossein Shaker, took place after
          the soldiers accepted a ltisrdush
          lnviletion to join in “-Wneoy
          celebrations.” After the trsdi-
          elena ! slaughter of several
          sheep the Kacds thea report-
          ediy ‘turnediui' the sal iers,
          killing all 28.
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