Hadi Khamenei

"The political right in this country say that the supreme leader is above the law, that he can change the law, that he can decree anything he feels is right. Those powers can cause a dictatorship," he told American author Robin Wright in a 2000 interview in Tehran. Khamenei argues that the Guardian Council's vetting of candidates threatens Iranian democracy. He believes that some reformist candidates are wrongly kept from running. In 1998, the Guardian Council rejected Hadi Khamenei's candidacy for a seat in the Assembly of Experts, allegedly for having "insufficient theological qualifications."

Khamenei was the publisher of various newspapers, including Hayat-e-No. The Special Court for the Clergy, a tribunal appointed by the Supreme Leader, accused Hayat-e-No of "press offenses." The newspaper was accused of insulting Imam Khomeini in a cartoon. In parliament, Hadi Khamenei said that he would have rather died than be accused of insulting the imam. The Special Court for Clergy temporarily banned Hayat-e No in January 2000. According to the Guardian, Hayat-e No is a reliable paper. Financial Times stated that Hayat-e No was a pro-reform daily. The paper was banned in December 2009 by the Press Supervisory Board "for working outside the regulations".

In the 1990s, Hadi Khamenei spoke at seminaries across Iran and launched a reformist newspaper to provide alternative coverage to the state media. In late 1990s, hard-line opponents of the reform movement, organized a campaign targeted at him, by physically attacking him during lectures which were critical of the hard-line leadership, (he required hospitalization for head injuries suffered at a Qom mosque), banning his newspaper, disqualifying him from running for the Assembly of Experts. On 11 February 1999, around one hundred people attacked Hadi Khamenei in Qom. The attackers fractured his skull. The mob used "stones, sticks, iron rods and shoes" to attack Khamenei. The Iranian police arrested 45 people who were suspected to be involved in the attack.

Hadi Khamenei's other newspaper, Jahan-e Islam, was shut down in 1995. The newspaper was accused of insulting Islamic beliefs and publishing false information. According to The New York Times, Jahan-e Islam was a moderate daily. However, in 1995, The New York Times characterized Jahan-e Islam, as a "hard-line Islamic newspaper."

Hadi Khamenei became a leading reformer in the 1990s, putting him at odds with his older brother, whose official position he criticized as having too much power. Hadi Khamenei was an important adviser to reformist President Mohammad Khatami. He was a deputy minister in the 1980s.

Born to Javad Khamenei, an Iranian Azerbaijani cleric, and an ethnic Persian mother from Yazd, Hadi Khamenei grew up in the 1950s, one of eight siblings, spending his free time raising birds and playing sports. He says that his father did not force him into religious studies.

Sayyid Hadi Khamenei (Persian: سید هادی خامنه‌ای; born 26 January 1948) is an Iranian reformist politician, mujtahid and linguist. He is a key member of the reformist Association of Combatant Clerics, and a former deputy of the Majlis of Iran representing a district in Tehran.