Cleric’s Death Fuels Demonstrations

New trouble for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: The death on Sunday of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, one of the founding members of the Iranian republic, caused the Iranian regime to tighten security due to fears that mourners could quickly turn into protestors. In Tehran, mourners chanted, “This is the month of blood. The regime is coming down.” Fueling the flames was military prosecutors’ accusation that prison guards tortured at least three students to death in July. Top leaders have denied torture for months. The Wall Street Journal calls the reversal “one of the biggest blows to Tehran's credibility since government protests first erupted six months ago.”