Ayatollah Khomeni
From RationalWiki
The Ayatollah Khomeni was a fundamentalist Islamic preacher who overthrew the United States-backed dictator of Iran, the Shah. Once in power, he instituted a very strict form of sharia law and officially proclaimed Iran to be an Islamic Republic. He is most remembered from that time for issuing a fatwa calling for the death of Salman Rushdie.
The Ayatollah Khomeini should not be confused with the Ayatollah Khameini, who took over (somewhat) sometime after the prior's death. The latter is (by Iranian standards) a moderate, and when in office sought detente with the US.
