Kazem Seddiqi (Persian: کاظم صدیقی, born 4 March 1951, sometimes with the honorific Ayatollah, and surname anglicised as Sedighi) is an Iranian Shia scholar and Mujtahid currently serving as Tehran's Friday Prayer Temporary Imam. A rival of President Ahmadinejad, Seddiqi was appointed as interim Friday prayers leader for Tehran by Ayatollah Khamenei in 1 August 2009. The New York Times characterized the appointment as part of an effort to "reinforce [Khamenei's] authority by cultivating divisions between factions" following the controversial June presidential election.