Ali Khamenei

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Ali Khamenei
2nd Supreme Leader of Iran
Incumbent
Assumed office  4 June 1989
Preceded by	Ruhollah Khomeini
Born	July 17, 1939 (age 67) Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran
Political party	Islamic Republic Party (when president)
Religion	Shia Islam

Iran

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Iran

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Grand Âyatollâh Seyyed ‘Alî Hossaynî Khâmene’î (Persian pronunciation) (help·info) (Persian: آیت‌الله سید علی حسینی خامنه‌ای Āyatollāh Seyyed `Alī Ḥoseynī Khāmene'ī) (born 17 July 1939), also known as Seyyed Ali Khamene'i,^[1] is the current Supreme Leader of Iran and was the president of Iran from 1981 to 1989.

Contents 1 Early life and clerical ranking 2 Political life and Presidency 3 Supreme Leader (Velāyat-e faqih) 4 Domestic policy 5 Foreign policy 5.1 Israeli-Palestinian conflict 6 Human rights 7 Nuclear weapons 8 Ali Khamenei and Iran's elections 9 Family life and children 10 Government posts 11 Representatives 12 Books and articles 13 See also 14 References 15 External links

[edit] Early life and clerical ranking

Born to an ethnic Azeri^{[2] [3] [4]} family in Mashhad,^{[5] [1]} Ali Khamenei began religious studies before completing elementary education.

He is second eldest of eight children. Two of his brothers are also clerics. His younger brother, Hadi Khamenei, is a notable newspaper editor and cleric.^[6]

He attended the seminary classes of "Sat'h" and "Kharej" in the hawza of Mashhad, under his mentors such as Haj Sheikh Hashem Qazvini, and Ayatollah Milani, and then went to Najaf in 1957.^[7] After a short stay he left Najaf to Mashhad, and in 1958 he settled in Qom. Khamenei attended the classes of Ayatollah Boroujerdi and Ayatollah Khomeini. Later, he was involved in the Islamic activities of 1963 which led to his arrest in the city of Birjand, in Southern Khorasan Province. After a short period he was released and continued his life by teaching in religious schools of Mashhad and holding Nahaj-ul-Balagheh lesson sessions in different mosques.^[7]

Ali Khamenei was not a marja when he was elected as the Supreme leader of Iran.^[8] Since the constitution required the Superme Leader to be a marja, a new amendment to the constitution to allow a cleric of his then-status to be elected as the Supreme Leader was required. Since this had not been put to a referendum yet, the Assembly of Experts internally titled him a temporary office holder until the new constitution became effective. The choice of Khamenei, who was soon after addressed as Ayatollah but whose marja'iyat was not recognized at the time, is said to be a political one.^[9] In 1994, after the death of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Araki, the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom declared Khamenei a new marja. However, four of the Iran's dissident Grand Ayatollahs declined to recognize Khamenei as a marja.^[10] Nevertheless, a cleric only needs acceptance of a few Grand Ayatollahs, to be recognized as marja.^[11] Khamenei refused the offer of marja'iyat for Iran, as he explained, due to other heavy responsibilities, but agreeing to be the marja for the Shi'as outside of Iran. His acceptance of marja'iyat for Shi'as outside Iran does not have traditional precedence in Shi'ism. Marja'iyat can be, and in modern times it increasingly is, transitional.^[9]

Theoretically, the Islamic republic system (vilayat-i faqih, leadership of the supreme jurisprudent) is said to be legitimate when a Grand Ayatollah who is recognized as a marja serves as the faqih (jurisprudent). Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Shirazi, who was under house-arrest at the time for his opposition to Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, did not accept Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a marja. According to "Human Rights in Iran" (2001) by Pace University's Reza Afshari, Shirazi was "indignant" over recognition of Khamenei as the Supreme Leader and a marja. Shirazi (who died in late 2001) apparently favored a committee of Grand Ayatollahs to lead the country. Other marjas who questioned the legitimacy of Khamenei's marja'yat were dissident clerics: Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, Grand Ayatollah Hassan Tabatabai-Qomi and Grand Ayatollah Yasubedin Rastegari.^[10]

[edit] Political life and Presidency

Khamenei was a key figure in the Islamic revolution in Iran and a close confidant of Ayatollah Khomeini. Khomeini appointed Khamenei to the post of Tehran's Friday Prayer Leader in the autumn of 1979, after the resignation of Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri from the post. Also he went to battlefield as a representative of defense commission of the parliament. In June 1981, Khamenei narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb, concealed in a tape recorder at a press conference, exploded beside him. He was permanently injured, but the event helped affirm his reputation as a "living martyr" among his followers.^{[citation needed]}

Candidate	Votes	%
Ali Khamenei	16,003,242	95.02 %
Ali Akbar Parvaresh	342,600	2.03 %
Hassan Ghafourifard	78,559	0.47 %
Reza Zavare'i	62,133	0.37 %
Blank or invalid votes	356,266	2.12 %
Total	16,841,800

In 1981, after the assassination of Mohammad Ali Rajai, Ayatollah Khamenei was elected President of Iran by a landslide vote in the Iranian presidential election, October 1981 and became the first cleric to serve in the office. Ayatollah Khomeini had originally wanted to keep clerics out of the presidency, but this view was compromised. Many saw Khamenei's presidency as a sign that Islamic modernists were being isolated by the Supreme Leader and that the Islamic revolution was embracing more fully the concept of Vilayat-e Faqih or Guardianship of the Jurists.^{[citation needed]}

He was re-elected to a second term in 1985, capturing 85.66% of total votes.^[12] As a close ally of Khomeini, he rarely clashed with the Supreme Leader during his term in office, unlike Iran's first president, Abolhassan Banisadr.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Supreme Leader (Velāyat-e faqih)

Main article: Supreme Leader of Iran

Seyyed Ali Khamene'i was preceded by Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of Islamic Revolution in Iran. When Khomeini died, Khamenei was elected as the new Supreme Leader by the Assembly of Experts on June 4, 1989. Initially, a council of three members, "Ali Meshkini, Mousavi Ardabili and Khamenei", was proposed for Leadership. After rejection of a Leadership Council by the assembly, and lack of votes for Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Golpaygani, Khamenei became the Supreme Leader by two third of the votes.^[13]

Electing an Islamic leader superior to all national and lawful organs is called Velayat e Faqih, first stated by Ayatollah Naraqi and expanded and revised by Ayatollah Khomeini. In this kind of leadership every decision is lawful only after approval of the supreme leader (Vali e Faqih, ولی فقیه in Persian). According to this theory, even democratic acts like national election of presidents (which happens every four years in Iran) are lawful only when the Supreme Leader signs his approval.

[edit] Domestic policy

Ali Khamenei has been supportive of science progress in Iran. He was among the first Islamic clerics to allow stem cell research and therapeutic cloning.^[14] In 2004, Ayatollah Khamenei said that the country's progress is dependent on investment in the field of science and technology. He also said that attaching a high status to scholars and scientists in society would help talents to flourish and science and technology to become domesticated, thus ensuring the country's progress and development.^[15]

In 2007, Khamenei requested that government officials speed up Iran's move towards economic privatization. Its last move towards such a goal was in 2004, when Article 44 of the constitution was overturned. Article 44 had decreed that Iran's core infrastructure should remain state-run. Khamenei also suggested that ownership rights should be protected in courts set up by the Justice Ministry; the hope was that this new protection would give a measure of security to and encourage private investment.^{[16] [17] [18]}

Additionally, Khamenei has stated that he believes in the importance of nuclear technology for civilian purposes because "oil and gas reserves cannot last forever."^{[19] [20]}

[edit] Foreign policy

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, he condemned the act and the attackers and called for a condemnation of terrorist activities all over the world, whether in the United States, Israel, the Balkans, or elsewhere.^[21] Candlelight vigils in Iran for the victims of the 9/11 attacks were commonplace during the next several nights.

On June 4, 2006, Khamenei said that Iran would disrupt energy shipments from the Persian Gulf region should the country come under attack from the US, insisting that Tehran will not give up its right to produce nuclear fuel.

[edit] Israeli-Palestinian conflict

With regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Khamenei has expressed support for armed resistance^[22] and like his predecessor, has called for the uprooting of Israel.^{[23] [24] [25]}

[edit] Human rights

Khamenei has said that human rights are a fundamental principle underlying Islamic teachings, including the rights to live, to be free, to benefit from justice and to welfare. He has criticised western human rights advocates for hypocrisy by economically oppressing people in Third World countries and supporting despots and dictators.^[26]

He usually states that the American administration has committed many crimes and is therefore not authorized to judge human rights in Iran.^[27]

In a visit with Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, Khamenei praised Mesbah’s books and thoughts as being original, very useful, solid and correct. He also stated that the Islamic world needs these ideas today more than any time in the past.^[28]

[edit] Nuclear weapons

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has issued a fatwa saying the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons was forbidden under Islam. The fatwa was cited in an official statement by the Iranian government at an August 2005 meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.^{[29] [30]}

[edit] Ali Khamenei and Iran's elections

In February 2004 Parliament elections, the Council of Guardians, a council of twelve members, half of whom are appointed by Khamenei, disqualified thousands of candidates, including many of the reformist members of the parliament and all the candidates of the Islamic Iran Participation Front party from running. It did not allow 80 members of the 6th Iranian parliament (including the deputy speaker) to run in the election. The conservatives won about 70% of the seats.

Council of Guardians did not let Ebrahim Yazdi or Hooshang Amirahmadi (among others) run in the 2005 presidential election.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Family life and children

Khamenei has four sons and 2 daughters, Mojtaba, Mostafa, Massoud, Maysam, Boshra, and Hoda. According to Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel, he leads a modest household.^[31]

[edit] Government posts

Since the founding of the Islamic Republic, Khamenei has held many government posts^[1]

• 1979 - Founded the Islamic Republic Party, along with like-minded clerics such as Mohammad Beheshti, Mohammad Javad Bahonar, Abdolkarim Mousavi Ardebili, and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
• 1980 - Secretary of Defense.
• 1980 - Supervisor of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards.
• 1980 - Leader of the Friday Congregational Prayer.
• 1980 - The Tehran Representative in the Consultative Assembly.
• 1981 - Ayatollah Khomeini's Representative in the High Security Council.
• 1982 - Elected President of the Islamic Republic of Iran after assassination of Muahmmad Ali Raja’i, and was re-elected to a second term in 1985.
• 1982 - chairman of the High Council of Revolution Culture Affairs.
• 1988 - President of the Expediency Council.
• 1989 - Chairman of the Constitution Revisal Committee.
• 1989 - Ayatollah Khamenei became the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran by choice of the Council of Experts, after the death of Ayatollah Khomeini.

[edit] Representatives

Ayatollah Khamenei has numerous representatives in different organizations (army, judiciary system, universities etc.) and cities. Here are his most notable representatives:

• Abdolhossein Moezi (Representative of the Vilayat-e-faqih in London)
• Hossein Shariatmadari (his representative at Kayhan)
• Ahmad Jannati (Head of Guardian council)
• Ahmad Khatami (Tehran's Friday prayer Imam)
• Mohammad Yazdi (member of Guardian council and former head of Judiciary system where he served for 10 years)
• Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi (head of Judiciary system)
• Rahim Safavi (commander of revolutionary Guard)
• Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi (The High Council of Cultural Revolution and Expediency Discernment Council)^{[citation needed]}
• Ali Larijani (acted as the head of IRIB for 10 years)

[edit] Books and articles

• Human Rights in Islam thesis

[edit] See also

Preceded by Mohammad Ali Rajai	President of Iran 1981–1989	Succeeded by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
New Title	Chair of Expediency Council 1988–1989
Preceded by Ruhollah Khomeini	Supreme Leader of Iran 1989–present	Incumbent

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• http://www.leader.ir – The e-office of the Supreme Leader of Iran]
• http://www.khamenei.ir – The official website of Ayatollah Khamenei]
• BBC News' profile on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Persondata
NAME	Khamenei, Seyyed Ali Hosseini
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	آیت‌الله سید علی خامنه‌ای‎
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Supreme Leader of Iran since 1989
DATE OF BIRTH	15 July 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH	Mashhad, Iran
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH