TEHRAN (Reuters) - A senior Iranian liberal cleric has launched an unprecedented attack on political, social and economic injustice and taken aim at the country's most powerful figure, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
A staunch supporter of reformist President Mohammad Khatami, Ayatollah Jalaleddin Taheri, made the comments in a letter of resignation as Friday prayer leader of the central city of Isfahan, the Norouz newspaper said Wednesday.
It was a tirade against the state of the nation and of conservatives who are blocking much of Khatami's program. Insulting the supreme leader carries a possible jail term.
"Those in power who are using the people's beliefs and religion to reach their materialistic aims, unfortunately are supporters of some violent people," Taheri was quoted as saying.
He listed the ills he said were afflicting Iran:
"Not obeying the law, the existence of illegal, irresponsible organizations, limiting parliament, implementing an unsuccessful foreign policy, rent-seeking, the existence of shadowy foundations in the economic field.
"Provoking the brain drain, isolating intellectuals, arresting critics, illegally imprisoning journalists and banning publications, paralyzing the government, the existence of the Guardian Council and the special court of clergy and ignoring the people all have an unpleasant result," Taheri said.
BREAKING TABOOS
The senior cleric took an indirect swipe at Khamenei who controls all the key elements of power in Iran through his office of "velayat-e faqih," or ruling religious jurist.
"I am calling my brothers and sisters to be patient and alert and I entrust the oppressed nation and the country to the real owner of the velayat, the 12th imam," he said, referring to the figure who Shi'ite Muslims believe will one day return to usher in an era of peace and justice. Taheri also broke another taboo by criticizing the treatment of leading dissident Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who has been held under house arrest since 1997: "The unprecedented and unheard of event of the inhumane siege of this great cleric will have inauspicious consequences," he said.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the enigmatic founder of the Islamic Republic had nominated Montazeri to succeed him as supreme leader, once calling him "the fruit of my life." But the liberal cleric fell foul of Khomeini in 1988, a year before he died, after criticising the execution of political prisoners.
Taheri, who was appointed by Khomeini, was one of the few remaining open supporters of Montazeri to hold high office. Most other Friday prayer leaders have been appointed by Khamenei.
"Some 30 years ago I was appointed by Ayatollah Khomeini and under the present circumstances I resign," he said.
Conservatives have launched vehement attacks on Taheri and called on Khamenei to sack the popular preacher in 1999.
Hardline militants threw stones at a podium where Taheri was about to deliver a sermon three years ago after he had accused conservatives of being involved in killing dissidents.
Political analysts say Khatami, despite his landslide re-election last year, has been politically hamstrung by conservatives entrenched in powerful posts within the state.
The charismatic president said in May he would resign if he felt the reform process had lost its way. Analysts say the threat of his resignation, which would probably lead to political turmoil, is one of the few weapons Khatami has left.