(From AFP)
The grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has been excluded from contesting elections next month, his son said Tuesday.
Hassan Khomeini, a 43-year-old cleric with close ties to reformists, was not verified as having sufficient religious competence by the Guardian Council, his son Ahmad said on his Instagram account, despite “testimony from dozens of religious authorities”.
Khomeini had hoped to be a candidate for election to the Assembly of Experts, a powerful group of clerics which monitors the work of Iran’s current supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and will be responsible for selecting his successor.
Khamenei, now 76, took over from the elder Khomeini who died in 1989.
Elections to the 88-member Assembly and for parliament’s 290 lawmakers will take place on February 26. Members of both bodies are elected in votes open to the general public. Read More