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News & Views Montazeri's daughter slams husband's jailing TEHRAN, Sept 1 (Reuters) - A daughter of Iran's top dissident cleric has appealed for the release of her husband, who she said was jailed to pressure her father, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. The daily Tous quoted Ashraf Montazeri, Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri's daughter as saying in an open letter that her husband Hadi Hashemi, also a Shi'ite Moslem cleric, has been incarcerated for three months without any formal charges. ``My husband, who spent long years of his life in jail under the former regime for the realisation of the Islamic government and suffered many physical tortures... has to stay in jail without any reason,'' Ashraf Montazeri said. She was referring to the pro-Western government of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi who was toppled by the 1979 Islamic revolution. Many clerics, like Hashemi, spent several years in prison for their opposition activities before the revolution. Montazeri, 76, has been Iran's most prominent dissident since the country's late spiritual leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini dismissed him as his designated successor shortly before his death in 1989. ``I feel that these actions mainly aim to put pressure on my respected father,'' Ashraf Montazeri said. ``I appeal to all Islamic scholars, freedom-loving people and supporters of human rights for his quick release,'' she added. There was no immediate official reaction to the letter. Hashemi was arrested in May for what authorities decribed as ``provoking conflict and tension'' in the central province of Isfahan. Isfahan city and Montazeri's nearby hometown of Najafabad, have been hotbeds of protest since the dissident cleric was put under house arrest and prevented from teaching after he questioned the authority of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in November. Montazeri's rare public challenge to Khamenei's paramount power prompted violent demonstrations by hardliners in which the dissident's house and offices were attacked. The moderate daily Tous, which was the only newspaper to publish excerpts of the letter on Tuesday, has had several run-ins with authorities through its attempts to test the limits of press freedom in Iran. Links * Iran News
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