Azari-Qomi also appealed to president Khatami to abolish the Special Clerical Court which had arrested and tortured many followers of Grand Ayatollah Shirazi. In his letter Azari-Qomi proposed that the velayat-e faqih should be split into two different realms of theological authority and political authority. Ayatollah Montazeri should handle religious affairs, while Khamenei could exercise political authority. Finally, grand ayatollah Azari-Qomi reminded the new president Khatami that with more than 23 million people who voted for him, he had the constitutional possibility to call for a referendum on the extent of the powers and the role of the Supreme Leader. "With their vote in your favour, our brave people have brought the whole of the present leadership under question and I’m proud of it. But, dear Mr President, be careful of not becoming the last of the presidents of the Islamic Republic, for this is what may well be your fate if you do not act now to stop at once present injustices committed under the name of Islam". In response, on November 10, 1997, Azeri-Qomi was forcibly expelled from clerical institutes in Qom and his and Ayatollah Montazeri's offices were ransacked. On November 26, 1997, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, announced in a televised speech that Grand Ayatollahs Montazeri and Azari-Qomi had "committed treason against the people, the revolution and the country," and commanded the Judiciary Branch to ensure they were "punished according to the law." Iran News reported on February 5, 1998, that "Jomhuri-ye Islami" printed an article on a recent meeting in Mashhad between some members of the Assembly of Experts who asked for the expulsion of Azari-Qomi from the Assembly. Ultimately, Azari-Qomi was not expelled from the Assembly of Experts, but his renewed candidacy in 1998 was rejected by the Guardian Council. He was hospitalized on 1 February 1999 and died shortly thereafter at the age of 74.