Yousef Saanei

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Yousef Saanei
يوسف صانعى
The late Grand Ayatollah Yousef Saanei in his office.
Title	Grand Ayatollah
Personal
Born	16 October 1937 Isfahan, Iran
Died	12 September 2020(2020-09-12) (aged 82) Qom, Iran
Religion	Islam
Nationality	Iranian
Member of the Assembly of Experts
In office 10 December 1982 – 8 October 1990
Preceded by	Office Began
Succeeded by	Ahmad Khomeini
Constituency	Tehran Province
Prosecutor-General of Iran
In office 1983–1985
Appointed by	Ruhollah Khomeini
Preceded by	Mohammad-Mehdi Rabbani Amlashi
Succeeded by	Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha
Jurisprudence	Twelver Shia
Creed	Usuli
Political party	Islamic Republican Party (1980s)[1]
Main interest(s)	Politics, Jurisprudence, Marja'yah and Theology
Relations	Hassan Sane'i (brother)
Website	http://saanei.org/

Yousef Saanei (Persian: يوسف صانعى; 16 October 1937^[2][3] – 12 September 2020)^[4] was an Iranian Twelver Shi'a Marja' and politician, a member of the Islamic Republic of Iran's powerful Guardian Council from 1980 to 1983 and also Attorney-General of Iran from 1983 to 1985.^[5]

Whether he was a Marja' (Grand Ayatollah) was disputed. His calls for radical political reform in Iran were very controversial and in 2010 the government-sponsored "Qom Theological Lecturers Association" (Jame-e-Modarressin) declared him no longer qualified for emulation as a Grand Ayatollah. However, many of his followers continued to consider him their Marja,^{[citation needed]} and this was acknowledged by several influential Maraji such as Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Naser Makarem Shirazi, Abdul-Karim Mousavi Ardebili, and Hossein Noori Hamedani.^[6]