Iranian dissident cleric, Montazeri, dies

IRAN'S most senior dissident cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who emerged as the spiritual father of its reform movement, died yesterday at the age of 87, according to Associated Press (AP).

Montazeri was one of the leaders of the Iranian revolution and he helped draft the nation's new constitution, which was based on a concept called Velayat-e faqih, or rule by Islamic jurists. That concept enshrined a political role for Islamic clerics in the new system.

Babs Odukoya