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Denver, Colorado (CNN) -- The moral conscience of Iran's reform movement passed away Sunday morning. Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who died at 87, was the Iranian equivalent of South Africa's Desmond Tutu for politics.

Over the past 20 years, he distinguished himself by virtue of his persistent, judicious criticism of human rights abuses in the Islamic Republic and his defense of the democratic aspirations of the people of Iran within the framework of an ethical interpretation of Shia Islam.

His death comes as a huge blow to the Green Movement, yet his supporters will take comfort that he lived a full life and intervened on all the major political questions plaguing Iranian and Islamic politics.