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.
archive ,guardian ,co ,uk/. /getFiles ,asp?. -.
1/2
