Iran lifts house arrest of top dissident

Tehran - Iranian authorities have lifted the house arrest of Iran's most-senior dissident cleric after five years, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported Monday. The decision follows reports the cleric's health is deteriorating.

The decision to lift the house arrest of 81-year-old Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri -- the man once in line to succeed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as Iran's supreme leader -- was issued by the Supreme National Security Council, the highest security decision-making body. It will take effect Tuesday.

Montazeri has been confined to his home in the holy city of Qom, 80 miles southwest of Tehran, since November 1997, when he said Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was not competent to issue religious rulings.

``According to the directive of the country's Supreme National Security Council, the confinement of Ayatollah Montazeri will be broken tomorrow (Tuesday),'' IRNA quoted an unidentified senior Interior Ministry official as saying.

The decision by the Supreme National Security Council apparently was approved by Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters.

Montazeri's son, Ahmad, told The Associated Press, ``Decisions by the council won't be implemented without the approval of Mr. Khamenei. The news is giving me the hope that he has given his consent.''

The news agency also said authorities have ordered governors of Qom and Isfahan provinces to deal with possible riots or crowd control. Montazeri enjoys huge support in Qom and his birthplace, the Isfahan province.

Ahmad Montazeri said there was no immediate change in his father's situation.

``My father is aware of the news, but there is no change on the house arrest up to now. However, we are hopeful that tomorrow will be the end of the bitter experience,'' Ahmad Montazeri said.

The elder Montazeri has been in deteriorating health and calls have increased over the past few weeks -- even in hard-line newspapers -- to lift the house arrest.

Ahmad Montazeri warned recently that authorities who ordered the house arrest would be held responsible if his father died in detention. Those authorities included Khamenei.

Earlier this month, more than 100 Iranian legislators called on President Mohammad Khatami, in his capacity as the head of the Supreme National Security Council, to lift the restrictions on the ailing cleric. Ayatollah Jalaleddin Taheri, a senior reformist cleric, then urged top religious leaders in Qom to intervene to lift the house arrest.

Montazeri, through his son, urged senior clerics to respond to growing calls for his freedom.

``Why do they remain silent?'' Ahmad Montazeri quoted his father as saying a week ago.

Montazeri fell out with Khomeini shortly before the latter's death, and Khamenei was chosen as Iran's supreme leader.

The judiciary also lifted a ban on the country's largest-circulating newspaper after a union leader withdrew his complaint against the paper, state-run Tehran television reported Monday.

The daily Hamshahri was ordered closed Wednesday for 10 days for failing to publish a union leader's response to a critical article, the television report said.

The ban on Hamshahri, or Citizen, was lifted Sunday after the complaint was withdrawn, according to the report. -- Associated Press

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