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“There’s an Arabic expression that says: ‘There’s a limit to all things – and everything that passes its limit destroys itself. If the institution of the Supreme Guide was one of an observer, it would remain But if there is dictatorship, it cannot continue… People like me and Mr Kadivar [a 'reformist' cleric in Tehran] are sent to prison because these people cannot tolerate criticism. Yet the Imam Ali always said: ‘You should criticise me.’ These gentlemen should behave the same way [as the Imam].”All the time we were speaking to each other through that whitewashed wall in Qom yesterday, the ayatollah’s son Ahmed stood beside us, bearded and turbaned, turning at one point to mutter that “this is the first time he has given such an interview”. So did Ayatollah Montazeri expect now to be freed, in the aftermath of last week’s election, to be spared Ayatollah Khamenei’s charge of “treason against the revolution”?Back came the disembodied voice “All my hope is in God. But these people [the conservative clergy] should take note that keeping me in prison is wrong.

I have a husseiniya [religious teaching school] class next to my home where I have many Korans and books – and they took them from me. I have 3,000 cassettes and audio equipment and they took all of it. Even if a person is convicted, they’re not allowed to confiscate his belongings… Our revolution was Islamic and [came about] through the will of the people. And we asked for independence, for freedom and for an Islamic republic It seems that they [the clergy] have forgotten freedom. They did not keep the promise of the revolution.”It was his habit of speaking out which lost Ayatollah Montazeri the favour of Imam Khomeini.

Once described by the latter as “the fruit of my life”, he dared to write a letter to the founder of the Islamic revolution after the end of the Iran-Iraq war, condemning the hanging of thousands of young Iranian men and women accused – often without proof or fair trials – of joining the violent pro-Iraqi mujahedin opposition. Khomeini, whose son Ahmed – also now dead – is said to have intercepted the letter, allowed the executions to continue and dismissed Ayatollah Montazeri as his successor.Ayatollah Khamenei, the man who now holds the job Ayatollah Montazeri was destined for, was enraged by the latter’s subsequent criticism of his powers. Our talk yesterday, in a tiny apartment off an alleyway in the suburbs of Qom, suggested that the voice would not be stilled.”We have another expression in Persian that says: ‘Rights are something you must seize – they’re not given to you.’ The people had to elect good representatives and oblige them to work in the people’s interest Violence brings negative results. But they [the conservative clergy] have created what are called ‘force groups’ who used violence and attacked people when they wanted to speak publicly And they attacked me too These kinds of action make people hate religion. But you can never serve the interests of religion through violence.”The election should be enough to stop the bad things they have been doing in the country,” he said “It’s said that they have killed 100 innocent people The judiciary must follow this up.