The “Green Revolution” that shook Iran in 2009 was largely the work of a popular and influential cleric, Hussein-Ali Montazeri. An early supporter of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the first one to vocally oppose the Shah, Montazeri spent spent many months in prison, tortured by the Shah’s security forces. In the newly-established republic Montazeri was elected the chairman of the Assembly of Experts that oversaw the action of Supreme Leader, Khomeini, but increasingly found himself marginalized and restricted under the Grand Ayatollah’s regime. His supporters never forgot him, however, and in his memory they started making their stand.

On this day, December 23, in 2009, on the occasion of a memorial service for Hussein-Ali Montazeri, a wave of protests, led by college students and 20-somethings swept across Iran.

The overthrow of the Shah and the establishment of the Islamic State marked a triumph of a democratic spirit, a seminal moment in the history of Iran – and one that has been lost and willfully abandoned in the decades thereafter, according to Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri. He criticized Khomeini for moving away from the democratic ideals that founded the republic. His call for democratic reform continues to echo in reformist circles, the biggest challenge of Khomeini’s rule.