Wife of late dissident cleric, Ayatollah Montazeri, passes away

Wife of Ayatollah Hoseinali Montazeri, MahSoltan Rabani passed away today in Qom less than four months after the dissident cleric was laid to rest.

Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani, another progressive Shiite cleric described Mrs. Rabani as a “friend and companion” of the late Muslim leader who “stood by him like a firm and resistant dam.”

Ayatollah Montazeri, who was one of the founders of the Islamic Republic and had been churned away for years by the Islamic Republic establishment for his continued criticism of their policies against dissidents and his disputes regarding the system, was basically under house arrest for years before his death last December at the age of 87.

Ayatollah Montazeri had officially pronounced the tenth presidential elections null and void and denied the legitimacy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s current government.

Hundreds of thousands of people attended his funeral in Qom and commemoration services planned for him in various Iranian cities were met with the resistance of security forces.

The funeral of Ayatollah Montazeri’s wife, MahSoltan Rabani will take place tomorrow in Qom.