Tehran, Dec 20 (DPA) The Iranian Grand Ayatollah, Hossein-Ali Montazeri, has died, state media reported Sunday.
Montazeri died Saturday night in his sleep at his home in the religious city of Qom after a long illness, the reports said.

The ayatollah had been banished from politics since the late revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, dismissed him as his designated heir in March 1989 for criticising the Islamic system.

Montzarei was also a fierce critic of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and accused his government of dictatorship after his disputed re-election in June.

In 2001, the ayatollah suffered a severe heart attack just after he was released from a five-year period of house arrest and was hospitalised for a long time.