Word: ayatullah
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...prosecuted for the death of an infant unless all the experts involved ruled out natural causes. Demanding Democracy iran Hard-line clerics reinstated more than 300 of the thousands of candidates they had disqualified from February's parliamentary elections, in response to a request by Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei for them to reconsider their ban. However, more than 70 senior civil servants threatened to resign if all the disqualifications were not overturned; many members of the Cabinet and six vice presidents had already tendered their resignations, but President Mohammed Khatami refused to accept them. Unity Moves turkey The powerful...
...First, there was an apparent change of heart by Grand Ayatullah Ali Hussein al-Sistani, the most powerful Shi'ite in Iraq. Al-Sistani had been insisting on direct election of a new government next spring because he feared that the U.S. proposal - for an indirect process featuring local caucuses throughout the country - might easily be manipulated to favor the nonelected members of Iraq's Governing Council, particularly the Pentagon's perennial favorite former exile, Ahmed Chalabi. According to the Financial Times, al-Sistani is now willing to let the U.N. decide whether direct elections or the American plan would...
First, there was an apparent change of heart by Grand Ayatullah Ali Hussein al-Sistani, the most powerful Shi'ite in Iraq. Al-Sistani had been insisting on direct election of a new government next spring because he feared that the U.S. proposal--for an indirect process featuring local caucuses throughout the country--might easily be manipulated to favor the nonelected members of Iraq's Governing Council, particularly the Pentagon's perennial favorite former exile, Ahmed Chalabi. According to the Financial Times, al-Sistani is now willing to let the U.N. decide whether direct elections or the American plan would...
...truth, Bremer's initial plan was always dicey. Here's why: Shi'ite Muslims make up a majority in Iraq (60%), although under Saddam--a Sunni--they never had the power their numbers warranted. The Governing Council too has a Shi'ite majority. In the summer Ayatullah Ali Hussein al-Sistani issued a fatwa saying that any body drafting a constitution had to be elected, not appointed by the council. Al-Sistani, though Iranian by birth, is the most senior Shi'ite religious leader in Iraq. There was no chance that the council would openly oppose his will, and--because...
...truth, there are three possible paths to an Iraqi provisional government, and each has problems. The easiest and worst would be to simply turn over authority to the current Governing Council, which has too many questionable Iraqi exiles like Ahmed Chalabi and too little input from the Grand Ayatullah Ali Sistani, the most powerful Shi'a cleric, or the general Sunni populace. The Bush Administration's chosen path is more responsible but too slow--write a new constitution, have a referendum on that constitution and then hold general elections. Colin Powell has set a six-month target for the constitution...