Iran Seeks to Quiet Critic Inside Ruling System

FILE - In this Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008, file photo, Iranian senior cleric Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi...

FILE - In this Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008, file photo, Iranian senior cleric Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, delivers his sermon of prayer of Eid al-Adha, or Feast of the Sacrifice, under a poster showing the Iranian late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, left, and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at the Tehran University campus, in Tehran, Iran. When Iran holds state-run ceremonies this week for an important Islamic feast day, there will be one very noticeable change: former President Hashemi Rafsanjani will not be leading the prayers. It's the latest slap by authorities against the single figure they may fear most _ a powerful combination of elder statesman, super-wealthy tycoon and head of the only group empowered to remove Iran's supreme leader. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi,file)

(AP)

When Iran holds state-run ceremonies this week for an important Islamic feast day, there will be one very noticeable change: former President Hashemi Rafsanjani will not be leading the prayers.

The removal of Rafsanjani from the high-profile role is the latest slap by the ruling establishment against the single figure they may fear most — a powerful combination of elder statesman, super-wealthy tycoon and head of the only group empowered to remove Iran's supreme leader.

It's also a reflection of the Islamic leadership's deep worries about how to deal with a dissenter within the inner ranks.

"They cannot wipe him out, but they are trying to quarantine him," said Alireza Nourizadeh, chief researcher at the Center for Arab-Iranian Studies in London.

Rafsanjani has appeared to side with critics alleging that the June presidential election was rigged and his ire drifted toward the very pinnacle of Iranian power: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

To Iran's ruling powers, the 75-year-old cleric represents a threat that's perceived as even more acute than the street protests and opposition leaders who emerged after the disputed June presidential elections.

He leads the only group capable of removing Khamenei, the Assembly of Experts, and there were strong hints that after the election he consulted with other members on the unprecedented step of ousting or reprimanding the supreme leader — whose most loyal supporters believe is answerable only to God.

Rafsanjani declined repeated requests by The Associated Press for an interview. But clearly Iran's rulers are doing all they can to keep him bottled up — part of a blanket offensive to muzzle opposition voices in public and in the media.

"There is probably no one that strikes more fear in the ruling elite than Rafsanjani," said Nourizadeh. "There is an effort to keep him out of the public eye as much as possible."