In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Your Honor Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimin Mr. Haj Shaykh Husayn-`Ali Muntaziri, may his blessings last long:
This is not surprising at all for the tyrannical criminal system to deprive such a great personage like you, that is serving Islam and the nation, of freedom, which is of the basic human rights; and to treat him and other religious authorities and liberal dignitaries with medieval tortures. The traitors to the country and people are scared of justice seeking personalities like yourself. Religious and political personalities must be in chains so that it will be much easier for the foreigners and their relatives to plunder the treasury and resources of the country, as much as they can. According to the logic of Carter and other oil guzzler freeloaders, political liberty means the imprisonment of the liberal and independence-seeking fronts, from the enlightened religious authorities to the political personalities, students, esteemed traders, as well as the censorship of the press and advertising systems. And according to this logic, progress and civilization of the country means the dependency of its arteries from culture, economy and army down to legislative, judiciary and executive systems. For the past gloomy fifty years of the Pahlavi era, this program has been and still is going on in our country.
Now that the Iranian zealous nation has made this great Islamic uprising and stood up against the cruel and ravaging system with clenched fists, like an iron dam, and the systems main pillars have fallen or are collapsing one after another, it is for the leading fronts, i.e. the great Islamic authorities and distinguished spiritual leaders, honorable preachers, instructors and scientists, political personalities, intellectuals of the universities and markets, respected employees and conscious oppressed workers, to take advantage of this divine opportunity and lead all layers of the nation, relentlessly; and not to step back even one step, or to violate the will of the nation. The nation's will is the overthrowing of the kingship and stopping the foreigners' interferences in the country's fate, and ceasing of their lootings, and putting the Islamic republican movement, which guarantees freedom and independence, in the place of the monarchial regime, which is the source of all miseries and backwardness, because otherwise, it would be wasting the blood of Islam's beloved youth and ruining the country in every aspect, and assisting in the destruction of the commandments, which are Islam's principles, and destroying them will be considered as the greatest of sins and treacheries.
In the present regime we will not accept democracy, even if it is impossibly granted. People cannot ignore the blood of their dear children and the so many years of betrayal. Islam has determined the fate of this criminal. May God's peace and mercy be upon you.
Rouhullah al-Mousawi al-Khomeini