Iran bans memorials for dissident cleric

IRANIAN authorities have banned memorials for the country's most senior dissident cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, and reiterated a stern warning to the opposition yesterday, after days of services in honour of the spiritual leader turned into street protests against the government.

A commemoration had been planned for Montazeri in the town of Kashan, 135 miles south of Tehran, but a large banner was put up in the town proclaiming that the Supreme National Security Council has banned any memorials for Montazeri except in the holy city of Qom and the cleric's hometown of Najafabad. A Web site Parlemannews carried a photo of the banner in Kashan, according to Associated Press (AP).