Supreme Leader has a slate loose!

The chief ayatollah, who is also the self-styled Supreme Leader of Iran, gave a rant of a sermon to a hunkered down mass of severe looking disciples. They clapped in unison, they grimaced in unison. The sort of people you wouldn't want to mess with. They all looked liked automotons as they appeared to relish the godless garbage that masqueraded as Islamic peace. Any dissenter in that crowd would have been promptly set upon by those around him, of that I have no doubt. If this bearded wonder thinks this represents a tolerant society he is on another planet.

Can you imagine the Archbishop of Canterbury delivering a diatribe of similar slander? The mind boggles. If Rowan Williams had done so, not only would the country think he had taken leave of his senses but the rest of the world would quite rightly be upset with Britain. I was struck by the humanity of the demonstrators in recent days. Faces displaying human courage and dignity, quite unlike the stony-hearted look of the ayatollah's followers.

As I write this the streets of Tehran are heavily laden with police eager to thrash the democratic life out of the protesters. It is all so sad. Some people just have the misfortune to be born into a country with despots and depraved persons in charge. Far from being a holy man, Khamenei is a vengeful man with a quixotic understanding of democracy. He thinks it is a fair election. If the man had an ounce of sense in his brain he would realise that this election was not only rigged but was farcicly unrealistic as a believable fix.

Khamenei is a man wedded to the violent oppression of those who would dare to challenge his authoritarian rule. In that he is palpably un-Islamic. Peace is a word that has Humpty Dumpty connotations for this tyrant.