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Notes
1 The Twelfth, or Hidden, Imam is descended from the Prophet through the Prophet's son-in-law, the first Shia imam, Ali. He is believed by adherents of the sect of Shiism dominant in Iran to have gone into ‘greater occultation’ in the ninth century and is expected to return to the world at the end of time to inaugurate an ‘age of justice’. The belief that in occultation, the Imam remains with us, though in a different dimension, has enabled some to claim communication with him. Millenarian movements claiming esoteric links with the Hidden Imam are not unusual in Iran and build on centuries, if not millennia, of a saviour tradition in the country. The last great millenarian movement in Iran occurred with the ‘Bab’ in the first half the nineteenth century, leading to the development of the Baha'i religion. The Bab and his followers were ruthlessly hunted down by the religious and political authorities on charges of heresy.
2 Originally at http://www.baztab.com. This site was closed down in autumn 2007, and the content subsequently moved to another site, http://www.tabnak.ir/#Group.
3 http://www.rajanews.com/. Attempts have been made by Raja News to discredit rival sites; see for example ‘Iranian Conservative Website Accuses ISNA of Discrediting Government’, 14 January 2007, on BBC Monitoring Online.
4 Rajabi has been heavily criticised for her extremism. See for example ‘Neveshteh-ye jadid-e fatemeh rajabi: een bar khatami meihman-e estemargar pir’, Noandish News, 13 November 2006, http://www.noandish.com.