Iran's most prominent dissident cleric dead at 87

Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the plain-spoken senior Shiite cleric who helped forge Iran’s system of religious government and went on to become a fierce critic of its hard-line rulers, died Sunday morning at the age of 87. He died of heart failure in his sleep, his son Ahmad told Iran’s official IRNA news agency…

Ayatollah Montazeri is widely regarded as the most knowledgeable religious scholar in Iran, and that gave his criticisms special potency, analysts say. His religious credentials also prevented the authorities from silencing or jailing him, even as they imprisoned scores of others for less inflammatory remarks…

Ayatollah Montazeri, who has long advocated greater civil liberties and women’s rights in Iran, was clearly angered by the bloody crackdown that followed the June elections, and issued a series of remarkable broadsides against the authorities.