This is an indication that those such as Michael Ledeen, who predicted dissent in the upper reaches of the Iranian clergy, were correct.

Yesterday Ledeen wrote:

The other great threat to the regime comes from the upper reaches of the clergy. Do not be surprised to see some senior ayatollahs denounce the regime; many have done so in the past (Ayatollah Montazeri has been under house arrest for years, and Ayatollah Boroujerdi has been subjected to horrible torture for criticizing the lack of freedom in Iran).

And now Montazeri has weighed in just as expected:

“No one in their right mind can believe” the official results from Friday’s contest, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri said of the landslide victory claimed by Ahmadinejad. Montazeri accused the regime of handling Mousavi’s charges of fraud and the massive protests of his backers “in the worst way possible.”

“A government not respecting people’s vote has no religious or political legitimacy,” he declared in comments on his official Web site. “I ask the police and army personals (personnel) not to ‘sell their religion,’ and beware that receiving orders will not excuse them before God.”

As Ledeen wrote (but the McClatchy article neglects to mention) Montazeri is already persona non grata and under house arrest. So it’s unclear how much this means, how large a following he has, or how many allies there are among those ayatollahs who haven’t yet spoken up (perhaps none, perhaps some).

Hot Air has some more background on Montazeri; he’s hardly a newcomer to the scene. The man is courageous; that much I can say. It’s also interesting that he remains alive, even though he had the cojones to criticize Khomeini when the latter was still around. This resulted in Montazeri’s removal and replacement by Khamenei; prior to that, Montazeri was a front-runner for appointment as Khomeini’s successor.

I can’t help but think that, if Montazeri had kept his mouth firmly shut until Khomeini died, Iran would be a much better place today.