Later Dissent and House Arrest
Khomeini died in June 1989 and another cleric, Seyed Ali Khamene'i, was selected by the Assembly of Experts to be the new Supreme Leader. Khamenei had been only a mid-ranking Hojatoleslam before Montazeri's removal. His promotion was, sometimes silently and sometimes openly, rejected by many Shi'a, including Montazeri.
In December 1989, Montazeri's supporters in Qom distributed "night letters" questioning Khamenei's qualifications to be a Marja e Taqlid ("Source of Emulation"), or in other words, an Ayatollah. In retaliation Revolutionary Guards "detained and humiliated" Montazeri, "forcing him to wear his nightcap rather than his white turban."
In October 1997, after openly criticizing the authority of the Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, Ayatollah Montazeri was placed under house arrest under the pretext of protecting him from hardliners. He was finally freed from house arrest in 2003 after "more than 100 Iranian legislators" called on President Khatami to free Montazeri. Some thought that the government lifted the house arrest to avoid the possibility of a popular backlash if the ailing Montazeri died while in custody.
Read more about this topic: Hussein-Ali Montazeri
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