- Political and religious ruler of Iran (1979-1989).
- When the Ayatollah died in 1989, tens of thousands of mourners crowded the streets of Teheran and a small crowd hoisted the bier on their shoulders to carry it themselves. But the shoving crowd was so grief-stricken that they tore the shroud that covered him and knocked his body to the ground. After the crowds were cleared, Khomeini was buried in a metal coffin.
- Was exiled to Iraq and then Turkey and then France before returning to Iran to overthrow the Shah.
- In 1988 he issued a legal edict, or fatwa, saying Salman Rushdie should be killed for his novel, "The Satanic Verses".
- Is mentioned in Christopher Hitchens' book "God is not Great", in relation to the fatwa. Hitchens comments that the Ayatollah probably had not read "The Satanic Verses", and probably could not read it either.
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