Hussein-Ali Montazeri

Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri (Persian: حسینعلی منتظری‎ [hosejnæˈliːje montæzeˈɾiː] ^ⓘ; 24 September 1922 – 19 December 2009) was an Iranian theologian, democracy advocate, writer, and human rights activist. He was one of the leaders of the Iranian Revolution and one of the highest-ranking authorities in Shīʿite Islam. He was once the designated successor to the revolution's leader, Ruhollah Khomeini; however, they had a falling-out in 1989 over government policies that Montazeri claimed infringed on people's freedom and denied them their rights, especially after the 1988 mass execution of political prisoners.

Montazeri spent his later years in Qom and remained politically influential in Iran but was placed under house arrest in 1997 for questioning "the unaccountable rule exercised by the supreme leader", Ali Khamenei, who succeeded Ruhollah Khomeini. He was known as the most knowledgeable senior Islamic scholar in Iran, a grand marja (religious authority) of Shia Islam, and was said to be one of Khamenei's teachers.

For more than two decades, Montazeri was one of the main critics of the Islamic Republic's domestic and foreign policy. He had also been an active advocate of Baháʼí Faith rights, civil rights, and women's rights in Iran. Montazeri was a prolific writer of books and articles. He was a staunch proponent of an Islamic state, and he argued that post-revolutionary Iran was not being ruled as an Islamic state.