Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, 86, foreground ,who was once the heir apparent to lead Iran but fell from favor and spent five years under house arrest as the regime's most feared dissident leads Eid al Fitr prayers after the end of the Holy month of Ramadan in Qom about 80 miles southwest of Tehran, Iran, on Wednesday Oct. 1, 2008. AP Photo logo AP Photo 16 months ago

Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, 86, foreground ,who was once the heir apparent to lead Iran but fell from favor and spent five years under house arrest as the regime's most feared dissident leads Eid al Fitr prayers after the end of the Holy month of Ramadan in Qom about 80 miles southwest of Tehran, Iran, on Wednesday Oct. 1, 2008.

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  1. EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to film or take pictures in Tehran. Pro-reform cleric Mehdi Karroubi (C) and opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi (L) attend the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri at Montazeri's home in the holy city of Qom, 120 km (75 miles) south of Tehran, December 21, 2009. The car of Mousavi was attacked by "plainclothes men" on motorbikes on Monday and one member of his entourage was injured, the reformist Kaleme website reported. Kaleme said Mousavi was on his way back to Tehran after attending Montazeri's funeral in Qom when his car was attacked. It said the assailants shattered the car's back window.
  2. Mourners attend the funeral ceremony of Iranian Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the spiritual father of Iran's reform movement, shown in the posters, in the city of Qom 78 miles (125 kilometers) south of the capital Tehran, Iran, Monday, Dec. 21, 2009. Montazeri, who died Sunday at the age of 87, was a key figure in the 1979 Islamic Revolution who later accused his fellow clerical leaders of imposing dictatorship in the name of Islam.
  3. EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to film or take pictures in Tehran. A man wearing a green band in support of the Iranian opposition holds a picture of Iran's leading dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri during Montazeri's funeral in the holy city of Qom December 21, 2009. Huge crowds of Iranians chanted anti-government slogans during the funeral of Montazeri in the holy Shi'ite city of Qom on Monday, websites reported.
  4. EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to film or take pictures in Tehran. Supporters of the Iranian local opposition clash with supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, during the funeral of Iran's leading dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri in the holy city of Qom, 120 km (75 miles) south of Tehran, December 21, 2009. Huge crowds of Iranians chanted anti-government slogans during the funeral of Montazeri in the holy Shi'ite city of Qom on Monday, websites reported.
  5. Mourners beat their chests during a mourning ceremony for Iranian Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the spiritual father of Iran's reform movement, in his birth city of Najafabad, about 240 miles (400 kilometers) south of the capital Tehran, Iran, Monday, Dec. 21, 2009. Montazeri, who died Sunday at the age of 87, was a key figure in the 1979 Islamic Revolution who later accused his fellow clerical leaders of imposing dictatorship in the name of Islam.
  6. Opposition supporters and pro-government demonstrators scuffle during the funeral ceremony of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the spiritual father of Iran's reform movement, in the city of Qom 78 miles (125 kilometers) south of the capital Tehran, Iran, Monday, Dec. 21, 2009. Montazeri, who died Sunday at the age of 87, was a key figure in the 1979 Islamic Revolution who later accused his fellow clerical leaders of imposing dictatorship in the name of Islam.
  7. Two pro-reform Iranian women attend the funeral ceremony of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the spiritual father of Iran's reform movement, as the wear green headbands, the symbolic color of Iranian opposition, in the holy city of Qom 78 miles (125 kilometers) south of the capital Tehran, Iran, Monday, Dec. 21, 2009. Montazeri, who died Sunday at the age of 87, was a key figure in the 1979 Islamic Revolution who later accused his fellow clerical leaders of imposing dictatorship in the name of Islam.
  8. Iranians walk through a closed bazaar on Monday, Dec. 21, 2009, in the city of Najafabad, about 240 miles (400 kilometers) south of the capital Tehran, the birth city of Iranian Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the spiritual father of Iran's reform movement, after the Grand Ayatollah died Sunday at the age of 87. The spiritual father of Iran's reform movement died Sunday prompting thousands of his followers to immediately head to the holy city where the dissident cleric is to be buried.
  9. EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to film or take pictures in Tehran. Iranians follow a truck transporting the coffin of dissident cleric Ayatollah Hossein Ali Mintazeri in the Shi'ite holy city of Qom, 120 km (75 miles) south of Tehran, December 21, 2009. Big crowds of mourners chanted anti-government slogans during the funeral of Iran's leading dissident cleric Montazeri in the holy city of Qom on Monday, websites reported.
  10. EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to film or take pictures in Tehran. Iranians follow a truck transporting the coffin of dissident cleric Ayatollah Hossein Ali Mintazeri in the Shi'ite holy city of Qom, 120 km (75 miles) south of Tehran, December 21, 2009. Big crowds of mourners chanted anti-government slogans during the funeral of Iran's leading dissident cleric Montazeri in the holy city of Qom on Monday, websites reported.
  11. EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to film or take pictures in Tehran. People wear green bands in support of the Iranian opposition movement during the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri in the holy city of Qom December 21, 2009. Big crowds of mourners chanted anti-government slogans during the funeral of Iran's leading dissident cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, in the holy city of Qom on Monday, websites reported.
  12. EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to film or take pictures in Tehran. People wear green bands in support of the Iranian opposition movement during the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri in the holy city of Qom December 21, 2009. Big crowds of mourners chanted anti-government slogans during the funeral of Iran's leading dissident cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, in the holy city of Qom on Monday, websites reported.
  13. EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to film or take pictures in Tehran. An Iranian woman, wearing a green wrist band to show her support to the moderate opposition, gestures as she stands next to another woman holding a poster of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini standing in front of a picture of dissident cleric Ayatollah Hossein Ali Mintazeri, in the Shi'ite holy city of Qom, 120 km (75 miles) south of Tehran, December 21, 2009. Big crowds of mourners chanted anti-government slogans during the funeral of Montazeri in the holy city of Qom on Monday, websites reported.
  14. EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to film or take pictures in Tehran. Supporters of the Iranian opposition movement wear green during the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri in the holy city of Qom December 21, 2009. Big crowds of mourners chanted anti-government slogans during the funeral of Iran's leading dissident cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, in the holy city of Qom on Monday, websites reported.
  15. EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to film or take pictures in Tehran. Supporters of the Iranian opposition movement wear green during the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri in the holy city of Qom December 21, 2009. Big crowds of mourners chanted anti-government slogans during the funeral of Iran's leading dissident cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, in the holy city of Qom on Monday, websites reported.
  16. EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to film or take pictures in Tehran. An Iranian mourner cries beside Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri's coffin during his funeral in the holy city of Qom December 21, 2009. Big crowds of mourners chanted anti-government slogans during the funeral of Iran's leading dissident cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, in the holy city of Qom on Monday, websites reported.

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