Iranian cleric condemns incarceration of politcal dissidents

Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani

Iranian Shiite leader, Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani condemned the continued incarceration of Iranian political and social activists as a strategy to “hold on to power.”

In a meeting with families of recent detainees, the reformist cleric maintained that there are some who struggle to hold on to power “at all costs” and the continued arrest of Iranian activists is a sign of this struggle.

In the past ten months, the Islamic Republic has arrested thousands of dissidents in the disputes over the outcome of the June presidential elections.

While some election protesters have been temporarily released on heavy bails, many still languish in Iranian prisons.

Ayatollah Bayat Zanajani has repeatedly spoken out against the outcome of the elections and the violent crackdown on election protesters.

He accused the Islamic Republic of committing the same mistaken acts against the best of their people as the old regime committed before them.

He told the families of the political prisoners: “Your loved ones are amongst the purest members of the society and you should not lose hope over their imprisonment.”

Iranian clergy is another institution that has become heavily divided in the aftermath of the June presidential elections. A group of Iranian senior clerics have spoken out against government suppression of post-election protests and lent their support to the reform movement that gained momentum following the alleged fraud in the elections that gave Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a new term at presidency.