Shayan Ghajar

To commemorate the the 31st anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini’s return to Iran from exile during the Iranian Revolution, Khomeini’s grandson and foremost descendant, Seyyed Hassan Khomeini, hosts a gathering each year at Ayatollah Khomeini’s mausoleum, of which he is the caretaker.

This year was no different. The ceremony on Feb. 1 was attended by top government officials celebrating Khomeini’s legacy and leadership. Hassan Khomeini, as the director of the facility and the living representative of Khomeini’s family and legacy, presided over the event. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and various members of his government attended the ceremonies.

However, to express his dissatisfaction, Hassan Khomeini left the ceremony before President Ahmadinejad delivered his speech, according to the opposition website Kaleme, which is affiliated with Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Hassan Khomeini has avoided any show of support for Ahmadinejad after the elections, skipping his inauguration ceremony and supporting Moussavi’s call for annulment of the June 2009 election results that declared Ahmadinejad the winner. His meeting with Ahmadinejad, in this context, may seem to be a sign of reconciliation.

But instead of staying for Ahmadinejad’s address, Seyyed Hassan paid a visit to the family of Alireza Beheshti, an opposition politician currently jailed by the government. Alireza Beheshti was opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi’s top advisor, and is the son of prominent revolutionary martyr Ayatollah Beheshti, killed in a bombing in 1981. Ayatollah Beheshti was also a close confidant of Ayatollah Khomeini.

Hassan Khomeini’s visit was apparently designed to express his support for the Beheshti family while their father is in jail. Kaleme reported in January that Alireza Beheshti suffered a heart attack during his imprisonment due to the harsh conditions.

Hassan Khomeini has expressed his solidarity with the opposition in the past by paying visits to relatives of opposition leaders. He had also visited Moussavi’s nephew’s family in January to offer his condolences. Moussavi’s nephew was shot and killed on December 27, 2009, in what the opposition alleges was a targeted assassination by government forces.

Seyyed Hassan Khomeini’s departure before Ahmadinejad’s speech was certainly intended to send a message to the hardliners. Although Seyyed Hassan met with Ahmadinejad before his speech, it was in his capacity as the steward of Khomeini’s mausoleum and likely was not a gesture of conciliation. Hassan Khomeini’s visit to the Beheshti family was yet another sign that the bayt-i Imam, or family of Ayatollah Khomeini, feel that the opposition, rather than the government, reflects the principles of the Islamic revolution.