The Assembly of Qom Seminary Scholars and Researchers (also Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom) [1] is an association of Shia Islamic clerics in Iran's religious capital of Qom.
The Assembly of Qom Seminary Scholars and Researchers (also Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom) [1] is an association of Shia Islamic clerics in Iran's religious capital of Qom.
The Assembly became more widely known outside of Iran after its criticism of the 12 June 2009 Iranian presidential election. The group criticized the election vote counting system and the Iranian Guardian Council in a statement saying the Council no longer had the "right to judge in this case as some of its members have lost their impartial image in the eyes of the public." [2] The Assembly also released a joint statement demanding new elections [3] as well a statement condemning the state-sponsored detention and killing of anti-Mahmoud Ahmadinejad protesters. [4]
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Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri was an Iranian Shia Islamic theologian, Islamic 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 Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, but they had a falling-out in 1989 over government policies that Montazeri claimed infringed on people's freedom and denied them their rights. Montazeri spent his later years in Qom and remained politically influential in Iran, but was placed in house arrest in 1997 for questioning "the unaccountable rule exercised by the supreme leader." He was known as the most knowledgeable senior Islamic scholar in Iran and a grand marja of Shia Islam.
Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali al-Husayni al-Sistani, commonly known as Ayatollah Sistani, is one of the most influential Iraqi Shia Marja' of Iranian origins living in Iraq.
Ali Akbar Feiz Aleni, better known as Ali Meshkini, was an Iranian cleric and politician.
Sayyid Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi was an Iranian Twelver Shia cleric and conservative politician who was the Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council from 14 August 2017 until his death on 24 December 2018. He was previously the Chief Justice of Iran from 1999 to 2009.
Mohammad Yazdi was an Iranian conservative and principlist cleric who served as the head of Judiciary System of Iran between 1989 and 1999. In 2015, he was elected to lead Iran's Assembly of Experts, defeating Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president, by a vote count of 47 to 24.
Ayatollah Taqi Mesbah, commonly known as Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi was an Iranian Shi'i cleric, philosopher and conservative political theorist who served as the spiritual leader of the Front of Islamic Revolution Stability.
Sayyid Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari, also spelled Shariat-Madari, was an Iranian Grand Ayatollah. He favoured the traditional Shiite practice of keeping clerics away from governmental positions and was a critic of Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, denouncing the taking hostage of diplomats at the US embassy in Tehran.
Sayyid Hadi Khamenei is an Iranian reformist politician, mujtahid and linguist. He is a key member of the reformist Association of Combatant Clerics, and a former deputy of the Majlis of Iran representing a district in Tehran.
Grand Ayatollah Yousef Saanei was an Iranian Twelver Shi'a Marja' and politician, a member of the Islamic Republic of Iran's powerful Guardian Council from 1980 to 1983 and also Attorney-General of Iran from 1983 to 1985.
Sayyid Ahmad Khatami is a senior Iranian Shia cleric, member of Guardian Council and a senior member of the Assembly of Experts. In December 2005, Ali Khamenei appointed him as Tehran’s substitute Friday prayer leader. He is also a conservative and principlist politician.
Ayatollah Morteza Moghtadai is an Iranian Shia scholar, and deputy chairman of Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom. He was re-elected to the fourth Assembly of Experts. He currently resides in Isfahan and teaches in the city's seminary.
Protests against the results of the highly controversial 2009 Iranian presidential election, a disputed victory by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in support of opposition candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, occurred in major cities nationwide from 2009 into early 2010. The protests were titled the Iranian Green Movement by its proponents, reflecting Mousavi's campaign theme, and Persian Awakening, Persian Spring or Green Revolution, reflecting the "Persian identity" of Iranians and the so-called "colour revolution" theme.
Sayyid Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei is a son of Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran. He served in the Iran–Iraq War from 1987–1988. He also reportedly took control of the Basij militia that was used to suppress the protests over the 2009 election.
Hossein Taeb is an Iranian Shia cleric and senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps official who is currently the head of the IRGC's Intelligence Organization.
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani served as the fourth president of Iran from 1989 until 1997.
The fifth Iranian Assembly of Experts election were held in Iran on 26 February 2016 to elect the members of the Assembly of Experts. All 88 members of the Assembly of Experts, who are known as mujtahids, are directly elected. The elections had been planned for 2014, but were delayed in order for the election to be held alongside the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections.
The Two Societies is the nickname given to the coalition of two influential Iranian principlist clerical religious–political groups, Combatant Clergy Association of Tehran and Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom.
Pervasive Coalition of Reformists: The Second Step, named The List of Hope by Mohammad Khatami, was the sole coalition and electoral list affiliated with the Iranian reform movement for the 2016 legislative election. The group also endorsed candidates for the 2016 Assembly of Experts election. Reformists backed a list of 236 candidates for the Parliament and 77 for the Assembly of Experts, even though many of them are not reformists but moderate-leaning figures.
The third Iranian Assembly of Experts election was held on October 23, 1998 to elect all 86 members in 28 constituencies. 17,857,869 citizens voted in the elections, marking a 46.3% turnout.
Alireza Arafi is an Iranian Shia cleric, former Chairman of Al-Mustafa International University, Qom Friday prayer leader and head of Iran's Seminary.
