A senior Iranian cleric called for the execution of...

A senior Iranian cleric called for the execution of a university professor who claimed that Islamic fundamentalism had taken hold of the country's ruling elite. Ayatollah Ali Meshkini, head of the assembly that elects Iran's supreme leader, told worshippers in a Friday sermon that Hashem Aghajari should be put to death for a speech in which he questioned whether clerics were the sole authentic interpreters of Islam. Aghajari was arrested on August 15 after a closed hearing in Hamedan in western Iran, and charged with blasphemy.