He was a leading boxer in the heavyweight division in the early to mid-1950s. Henry was 1948 "Los Angeles Times" Golden Gloves Heavyweight Champion.
He was elected into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1998.
Supreme Leader of Iran
The Supreme Leader of Iran is the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Supreme Leader is also the highest ranking Islamic cleric in the country.
The position of "Supreme Leader" was created after the Islamic Revolution of 1979 in Iran.
The Supreme Leader is more powerful than the President of Iran and chooses the heads of many powerful posts in the military, the government, and the judiciary.
Ayatollah Khomeini (died 1989) and Imam Khamenei have become Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic so far.
President of Iran
The President of Iran is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The president is chosen by direct popular vote, that is the voters choose the president, they do not vote for other people to choose as in the USA. Unlike other countries, in Iran, the President is not the leader of the country. The President does many of the things that are normally done by a head of state but the Supreme Leader is the person who is actually in control of the country. The current President of Iran is Hassan Rouhani.
Ayatollah Khomeini
Ayatollah Khomeini was born Sayyed Ruhollah Mustafavi Khomeini, 24 September 1902 in Khomein, Central Iran (then Persia), and died 3 June 1989) (Persian: روح الله موسوی خمینی). He was also known as 'Imam Khomeini'. Khomein was the political leader of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Khomeini was also a poet. His poems are collected together in an "Imam Divan". Khomeini died of intestinal cancer and a heart attack on June 3, 1989, in Tehran at the age of 86.
On June 5, 1964, Khomeini was arrested and sent into exile (kicked from his country). He was exiled to Iraq, Turkey and then to France. Khomeini gave many speeches in France against Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. On January 16, 1979, Pahlavi left Iran. Two weeks later, on February 1, Khomeini returned to Iran.
He received a traditional religious education in Qom (city in Iran). When he lived in Najaf (a holy city in Iraq) for some years, he spoke about Islam ideas about Government. During that time, he refined his theory of "velayat-e faqih" ("government of the jurist").
On February 11, 1979, Khomeini appointed his first own prime minister, Medhi Bazargan. On March 30, 1979 a referendum took place in Iran and as a result, the monarchy was replaced with an Islamic Republic. After the Islamic Revolution, Khomeini became Supreme Leader of Iran.
In early 1989 Khomeini issued a fatwā calling for muslims to kill Salman Rushdie and "all those involved in the publication" of his book called "The Satanic Verses". Rushdie has never been killed. However the Japanese translator of the book was stabbed to death in 1991.
Theocracy
In Theocracy, a form of government, the institutions and people that govern the state are very close to the leaders of the main religion. If the religious leaders do not directly run some bodies of the state, they influence them very much. The word theocracy comes from two Greek words literally meaning God-government, and meaning the government is run by "The Church".
The Roman Catholic bishop of Urgell is one of the princes of the country. His role is mostly ceremonial.
Iran is a theocratic republic. In Iran, two bodies, the Supreme Leader and Guardian Council consist of members who are not elected by the people. These two bodies are staffed by Shia clerics. The highest elected official is the President of Iran.
Mohammad Khatami, the former president, said that this model is an alternative to democracy, as it brings in religious elements. He called it a religious democracy.
The Vatican City is a true theocracy, with no separation of church and state. The head of the Catholic Church is the leader of the country. The pope is elected by the Papal Conclave. Most popes have stayed for the rest of their lives, but some have resigned. One who resigned was Pope Benedict XVI.
Many states have a state religion. Israel, for example mixes some aspects of rabbinical law and civil law. Also, the state hires rabbis. In some such states, religious leaders also have civil duties, not only religious ones.
Some (now extinguished) states throughout history had characteristics of a Theocracy, as for example:
Ahmad Jannati
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati (born 1926) has been the secretary of the Guardian Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran since 1988.
Guardian Council
The Guardian Council is part of the government of Iran. It ensures the laws passed by Iran's legislature conform to Islam. It was created in 1979.
Incumbent
An incumbent is someone who currently holds a political office. This word is usually used when talking about elections, which are often between the incumbent and one other person or several other people. For example, Joe Biden is the incumbent President of the United States since he is still president. It can also be used in sports to let people know if a sportsman still holds the position or award in question.
Assembly of Experts
The Assembly of Experts was created after the Islamic Revolution in Iran. It is an assembly of Islamic clerics who have the power to choose the successor of the Supreme Leader of Iran.
Ali Meshkini
Ayatollah Ali Meshkini (1922-30 July 2007) was the chairman of the Assembly of Experts of the Islamic Republic of Iran from 1984 to 2007.
Judiciary
In the law, the judiciary or judicial system is the system of courts that administers justice in the name of the sovereign or state. A judicial system is used to resolve disputes.
The term is also used to refer collectively to the judges and magistrates who form the basis of the judiciary, as well as the other people who help keep the system running properly.
Separation of powers causes separate branches of government that each have a different purpose. The judiciary is the branch of government that interprets the law. Such systems may have three branches: Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. Often the judiciary branch has courts of first resort, appellate courts, and a supreme court or constitutional court. Decisions of the lower courts may be appealed to the higher courts.
In the United States the Judicial Branch is an integrated system of courts headed by the Supreme Court of the United States.
Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi (15 August 1948 – 24 December 2018) was an Iranian politician. He was the Chief Justice of Iran from 1999 to 2009. He was born in Najaf, Iraq.
Ayatollah Shahroudi was best known for ordering a moratorium on stoning as a form of the death penalty. However, later it was shown that executions by stoning are still being carried out, in spite of his claims that they have stopped. Stoning is still happening inside prisons, where the public cannot see it.
From August 2017 to December 2018, Shahroudi was Chairman of Expediency Discernment Council.
He died on 24 December 2018 from cancer in Tehran at the age of 70.
Expediency Discernment Council
The Expediency Discernment Council is a governmental body for resolving disputes between the Guardian Council and the legislature in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Mata Hari
Mata Hari was the stage name of Margaretha Geertruida (Grietje) Zelle (7 August 1876, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands – 15 October 1917, Vincennes, France).
She was a Dutch-Frisian exotic dancer and spy. She was executed by a firing squad of the French Army. French authorities thought she was a spy during World War I. Because she had relationships with both German and French officers, they thought she was a double agent (working for both sides). Her dossier (file) was released in 2017, a hundred years after her death.
German documents unsealed in the 1970s proved that Mata Hari was truly a German agent. In the autumn of 1915, she entered German service.