Iranian senior cleric condemns hecklers of Hassan Khomeini

Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani

Reformist senior Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani expressed deep regret over the heckling of Hassan Khomeini in yesterday’s ceremony marking the anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini’s passing.

Hassan Khomeini’s speech was impeded by a pro-Ahmadinejad crowd chanting anti-opposition slogans such as “Death to Mousavi!”

In a letter to the grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Hassan Khomeini, Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani says that the event was a systematic attack planned by extremists “to take revenge from Imam (Khomeini) and his followers.

The 21st anniversary of the passing of Ayatollah Khomeini was marked at his tomb yesterday with speeches from Ayatollah Khamenei, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the unfinished speech of Hassan Khomeini.

Hassan Khomeini urged his hecklers to keep their outbursts for the speeches of the president and the Supreme Leader which were to follow his.

In the controversy regarding alleged fraud in the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Khomeini family have refused to put their support behind Ahmadinejad. Hassan Khomeini did not attend Ahmadinejad's inauguration and he also made a point of visiting a number of prominent political detainees after they were released from prison in the post-election events.