Ahmad Montazeri: There Are Still Many Unpublished Documents

Ahmad Montazeri, who was recently summoned to the Special Court for Clergy regarding the release of an audio file of Ayatollah Montazeri's meeting with the decision-making committee on the 1988 executions, emphasized that he still possesses many unpublished documents from Ayatollah Montazeri. On Sunday, August 14, he told the news-analysis site Zeytoon that Ayatollah Montazeri's meetings were held "transparently" and that the attendees were aware of the recording of the meeting's content. He also mentioned that there are many unpublished documents he might consider releasing and even advised the government to take the initiative to publish them. However, he reminded that the documents in his possession are "not confined to one location, and if [security agents] want to search and find them, they will have to search not only Iran but the entire world." Montazeri had previously told Radio Farda that because Ayatollah Montazeri was the Deputy Leader at the time of this meeting, the release of the audio file is considered "disclosing state secrets." Although he explained to the Special Court for Clergy that the content of the released audio file had already been mentioned in Ayatollah Montazeri's memoirs and therefore its release does not constitute "disclosing secrets." He has also been accused in the Special Court for Clergy in Qom of collaborating with the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization by releasing this audio file during their alliance with the Saudi government. Nevertheless, Ahmad Montazeri told Radio Farda that in response he stated that this alliance was due to the attack by some individuals on the Saudi embassy, which has not yet been punished, and this attack was again attributed to the regime. The website of Ayatollah Montazeri published the audio file of his remarks in a meeting with the four-member decision-making committee regarding the execution of political and ideological prisoners in the summer of 1988, which contained explicit criticisms from the then Deputy Leader of the Islamic Republic regarding the execution process. The file was deleted a day later "at the request of the Ministry of Intelligence." Based on this newly released document, Ayatollah Montazeri referred to the 1988 executions as "the greatest crime in the Islamic Republic," which in the future would portray Ayatollah Khomeini as a "ruthless and bloodthirsty figure." Since the release of this audio file, none of the attendees at this meeting have commented on it, but figures close to Ayatollah Khomeini, including Mohammad Ali Ansari, Mohammad Mousavi Bejnourdi, Hossein Mousavi Tabrizi, and even Ali Khomeini, the grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini, have called this document distorted and have strongly protested its release. On Sunday, statements from Hassan Khomeini were also published in the news agencies, implicitly criticizing the release of this document. In these statements, Hassan Khomeini did not directly name Ayatollah Montazeri or his household, or even the issue of the 1988 executions, and merely said, "What benefit is there in recounting statements that have been proven to be false and baseless?" Statements that some news agencies referred to as the reaction of Ayatollah Khomeini's grandson to the release of Ayatollah Montazeri's remarks. In this context, Tajzadeh's request for the government to apologize to the nation for the 1988 executions continues to react to the Montazeri audio file. Alam al-Huda called for decisive action against Ahmad Montazeri for releasing the audio file. A member of Ayatollah Khomeini's office stated that the audio file of Montazeri's remarks is "full of errors and distortions." Ahmad Montazeri stated that the audio file is evidence of Ayatollah Montazeri's opposition to the 1988 executions.