Word: clerics
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Over the past 30 years, the five sons of a senior cleric have been a major force in Iran's power structure, either serving in or running for positions including the presidency and various diplomatic roles as well as posts in Cabinet ministries, the Council of Guardians, the legislature, the powerful National Security Council, the judiciary, Iran's top broadcasting authority and even the Revolutionary Guards. Over the past year, they have consolidated their power. (See pictures of the enduring influence of Ayatullah Khomeini...
Sadegh Larijani takes over Iran's judiciary at a critical moment, as the government mounts mass trials of opposition supporters who stand accused of fomenting a foreign-backed velvet revolution against the regime. The third such trial opened Aug. 16. A comparatively junior cleric for such a high-profile job (he was born in 1960, month unknown), Sadegh served for eight years on the 12-member Council of Guardians, the powerful body that vets legislation, political candidates and election results. (See pictures of Iranian society...
...Sunday, Iran's state TV broadcast a wrenching and stunning 20-minute confession from a well-known public figure. But former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a reformist cleric, was clearly not himself. For one, he was not allowed to wear his clerical robe, and he had lost visible weight. "I believe the reformists had prepared for two or three years for this election in order to limit the powers of the Supreme Leader," he declared, reading from a piece of paper. He went on to accuse three opposition leaders of forming an alliance in which they "promised to always...
Hard-line rhetoric heated up soon after the trials began. "Today's confession has opened the way to dealing with the leaders of the unrest," Hamid Resaee, a conservative lawmaker, told the state news agency IRNA. "There is no longer any reason to tolerate or compromise." Hard-line cleric Elias Naderan was even more explicit: "Those within the inner circle who managed the unrest must be put on trial. We shouldn't chase after weak, second-class figures with no influence...
...weeks after the contested results of Iran's presidential elections led to widespread street riots and demonstrations across the country, the Islamic republic pronounced its harshest threat yet to protesters. At the official ceremony for Friday prayers, Ayatullah Ahmad Khatami, a hard-line cleric who often delivers the sermon, said those who agitate on the streets were "waging war against God," a crime that carries the death sentence. (See TIME's photos of Iran protests around the world...