Ahmad Jannati

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati Massah (Persian: احمد جنتی‎, born 22 February 1927) is a hardline Iranian politician, fundamentalist Shi'i cleric and a founding member of Haghani school with close ties with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Mesbah-Yazdi. He is the conservative chairman of the Guardian Council,^[1] the body in charge of checking legislation approved by Majlis with the Constitution and sharia, and approving the candidates in various elections. He is also a temporary Friday prayer imam of Tehran. His son Hussein Jannati was a member of People's Mujahedin of Iran and was killed in a street battle by the Islamic Republic security forces in 1981.^[2][3]

Career

He has been a member of the Guardian Council since 1980 and has been its chair since 1988.^[4] Ahmad Jannati wields considerable influence because he simultaneously holds seats in the Guardian Council, Expediency Discernment Council, and Assembly of Experts.

Jannati was one of the founders of Haghani School, one of the most influential religious schools in Iran, and has had an influence on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Jannati is considered close to the Iranian Islamic conservatives, and is heavily criticized by the reformists for his active role in not approving reformist candidates to run in various elections and blocking their legislation.

Views

During a Friday Prayer on 4 August 2006 Jannati asserted that, "support for Hizbollah" was "a duty."^[5]

On Iraq he has said: “Fortunately, after years of effort and expectations in Iraq, an Islamic state has come to power and the constitution has been established on the basis of Islamic precepts”.^[6]

On election protest

In a Friday prayer sermon on 29 January 2010 in Tehran, Jannati "praised Iranian judicial authorities for executing two political dissidents" the day before and "urged officials to continue executing dissidents until opposition protests come to an end."^[7]

Jannati sees leniency with the dissidents as un-Islamic.

"God ordered the prophet Muhammad to brutally slay hypocrites and ill-intentioned people who stuck to their convictions. Koran insistently orders such deaths. May God not forgive anyone showing leniency toward the corrupt on Earth."^[8]

Answering to radicals clerics such Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati's will to speed up executions, Iran's judiciary chief firmly state his opposition, commenting this will as being against the Sharia and Iranian law.^[9] Also adding:

"Political assumptions should not influence judicial investigations because we won't have a response before God should an innocent person be punished due to hasty action."

On the United States

In a speech aired on Iranian TV Channel 1 on June 1, 2007 (as translated by MEMRI), Jannati stated:

People are increasingly inclined towards the Koran, towards Islam, towards the Islamic Revolution and the Imam [Khomeini]. Just like this movement destroyed the monarchical regime here, it will definitely destroy the arrogant rule of hegemony of America, Israel, and their allies... At the end of the day, we are an anti-American regime. America is our enemy, and we are the enemies of America. The hostility between us is not a personal matter. It is a matter of principle. We are in disagreement over the very principles that underlie our revolution and our Islam.^[10]

In April 2008, he pontificated, "You cried: `Death to the Shah,` and indeed, he died. You cried: `Death to Israel,` and it is now on its deathbed. You cry: `Death to America,` and before long, Allah willing, the prayer for the dead will be recited over it."^[11]

On September 17, 2010, Jannati "described the recent desecration of the holy Quran in the United States [as] an insane behavior," apparently referring to the 2010 Qur'an-burning controversy. In the same Friday Prayer, he reportedly claimed that "opinion polls reveal[ed] that 84 percent of the Americans consider the US administration responsible for 9/11 attacks."^[12] The Ayatollah's comments about Americans' opinions about 9/11 were cited by analysts after President Ahmadinejad made similar comments, amongst others, the next week at the United Nations. The president's speech sparked at least 33 delegations to walk out from the General Assembly, and ensuing criticism.^[13] In the speech, the president said there were three theories about the 2001 attacks, with the second being "That some segments within the U.S. government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy and its grips on the Middle East in order also to save the Zionist regime. The majority of the American people as well as other nations and politicians agree with this view."^[14]

On Hijab

Jannati takes a strong stand in favor of compulsory Hijab, or covering for women. In June 2010, he spoke out against Iranian President Ahmadinejad for his alleged laxness on compulsory hijab in Iran. After Ahmadinejad proposed a "cultural campaign" to combat loose hijab rather than a police crackdown, Jannati responded, "Drug traffickers are hanged, terrorists are executed and robbers are punished for their crimes, but when it comes to the law of God, which is above human rights," some individuals "stay put and speak about cultural programs."^[15]

On Pharaohs

Praising Iran's current circumstances, he once stood out comparing country's conditions with those of Egypt saying that Egypt used to be a very old Islamic civilisation which was all of a sudden destroyed by Pharaoh, explaining that he had shortly (apparently next to pharaoh's era as set forth in his speech) paid Egypt a visit feeling sorry and regretful for them.

Death Rumors

On September 5, 2010, rumors surfaced indicating that Jannati had gone into a coma following a brain aneurysm.^[16] However, an official statement from the Guardian Council spokesperson said the rumors were untrue and Jannati was in perfect health,^[17] However, he is often being referred to as somebody who has outlived prehistoric species including dinosaurs and the ones contemporary to them. Ahmad Jannati is likely to survive through to the next generation of Iranian politicians at which point in fact, he is going to tease them all for their lack of experience.

See also

• Guardian Council
• History of fundamentalism in Iran
• Reza Ostadi

References

External links

Quotations related to Ahmad Jannati at Wikiquote

• (Persian) Membership history
• (Persian) There is no hope for a free election
• Jannati and Karroubi debate on the policy for the evaluation of candidates (BBC Persian)
• The Gates of the U.N. and the Security Council Should Be Closed
• The English Are the Father of the Great Satan Excerpts from a Friday sermon at Tehran University, Feb. 2005
• To the U.S: Invade Iran, If You Dare Feb. 2007 transcript

Video clips

• Video clip: We Are Determined to Obtain Nuclear Technology 26 November 2004
• The English Are the Father of the Great Satan Feb. 2005
• To the U.S: Invade Iran, If You Dare Feb. 2007