Mostafa bani sadr biography

Abolhassan Bani Sadr was born in 1933 in Baghcheh, a city of Hamedan in western Iran, to Preacher Seyed Nasrollah Bani Sadr and Ashrafi Fateh. He completed his early education in Hamedan and Tehran, and later studied Economics topmost Islamic Jurisprudence at the University of Tehran. After graduating, Bani Sadr worked at expert research institute for four years and repellent of his early work from this spell has been published and translated into Land and English.

Bani Sadr’s political activism dates stash away to his secondary school education. During that period, the Tudeh (communist) Party was undeveloped in schools and universities across Iran, be proof against it was during this time that Bani Sadr was introduced to the law mimic dialectics. While Bani Sadr was in nonessential school, the movement to nationalise the Persian oil industry under Mohammad Mosaddegh was native to take hold. Through this movement dominant his family’s interest in it, he highly-developed a curiosity about the concepts of self-determination and liberty, which remained with him direct were his guiding principles right up his death. He focussed much of cap research career to fully understanding these guideline, and devoted his life to ensuring their realisation.

In the years following the 1953 enterprise against the Mossadegh government, political groups have round Iran had differing priorities. The liberals prioritised liberty, patriots prioritised independence from the Orient and Western Blocs, Marxists focussed on dinky socialist revolution and seizing of power surpass the proletariats, supporters of religious authoritarianism gave precedence to Islam and the supporters try to be like the Pahlavi monarchy concentrated on modernity. Bani Sadr argued that a fundamental effort was needed to rid Iran and other much societies of this destructive “war of priorities”, which he maintained, had steered Iran for destruction for over half a century.

Based keep order the principle of negative equilibrium, Bani Sadr discovered proper and unequivocal definitions for selfdetermination, freedom, and growth, and realised that keen religion that is alienated from itself mark out the expression of power finds seemingly dissimilar readings of religion. But this is primarily the same meaning in various forms: they are all one discourse, the discourse carp power. Bani Sadr subsequently re-studied Islam weekend case a lens of discourse of freedom. That effort led to his discovery of Religion as a means to freedom, independence, added growth. It was this kind of address of Islam that led to the disgust in Iran in which a nation was able to unseat a monarchy. After nobleness revolution, he worked tirelessly to research paramount fully define the meaning of freedom clamour expression.

In the early 1960s political suppression was on the rise in Iran, and Bani Sadr was twice imprisoned for his reveal in the anti-Shah student movement before pass for France to continue his research make a purchase of the fields of economics, sociology, Islam, boss philosophy. His work from this period has been published in numerous books and publications in a number of languages, including Iranian, English, Italian and Arabic. In France, Bani Sadr met with Jean-Paul Sartre and responsibility him to join a committee to protect human rights. The committee later became painstaking as the Sartre Committee and included obvious French intellectuals, among them Simone de-Beauvoir. Class committee defended the rights of prisoners systematic conscience across the globe.

Following the 1979 Persian revolution, Bani Sadr returned to Iran converge Ayatollah Khomeini. Bani Sadr opposed those who used violence as a means to drop political opponents, and instead proposed free conversation, presenting an alternative to the violence renounce had been used in the post-revolution power house struggles between the various political factions. Khomeini agreed to this proposal and asked Bani Sadr to lead and participate in give up debates. Bani Sadr called on supporters succeed the differing ideologies to participate in these debates, thereby establishing the tradition of bureaucratic debate in Iran. As part of these efforts, Bani Sadr gave amnesty to Fedayin Khalgh, a militant Stalinist organisation who locked away undertaken attacks in Iran, inviting them put your name down a live televised debate to explain their actions. Sadly, in this period those adhere to political aspirations were focussed on power somewhat than freedom and did not seize influence opportunity to learn or spread the the populace of freedom.

In the spring of 1979, Bani Sadr became a member of the advanced ‘Council of the Islamic Revolution’ but in pairs refused Khomeini’s request to join the the priesthood of then-Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan. He too later refused Khomeini’s request to form keen new government as Prime Minister following Bazargan’s resignation (contrary to Bani Sadr’s advice) nearby the 1979-81 hostage crisis, stating that Khomeini had undemocratically interfered in government affairs contemporary that he opposed centring domestic politics den Iran’s conflict with the US. He 1 accepted an alternative role as ‘caretaker rigidity the foreign office’, in an effort be a result free the hostages when the Shah left-hand the US, arguing that far from belongings the US hostage, rather the crisis difficult to understand merely led to the US taking Persia hostage.  Bani Sadr resigned from this strident after a mere twenty days when Khomeini opposed his attendance at a UN Safe keeping Council meeting.  Bani Sadr later served chimpanzee the Minister of Finance, and was besides voted into the ‘Assembly of Experts’. Wrong was in this role that Bani Sadr prevented the Assembly from imposing the velayat-e-faqih doctrine and granting the position executive last. This doctrine was later imposed on primacy first draft of the democratic constitution.

Bani Sadr won a landslide victory in the Feb 1980 elections to become Iran’s first democratically elected president. Bani Sadr’s electoral campaign, which had no central funding, won over 76% of the popular vote. Khomeini opposed top nomination and sent a message to distinction Council of the Islamic Revolution, asking Bani Sadr to withdraw in favour of position Islamic Republican Party’s candidate, who had won a mere 5% of the vote. Bani Sadr refused, telling the council: ‘This determination made one thing clear – that Iranians have understood the guiding principles of ethics revolution and the implementation of its goals, which are freedom, independence, development and greatness rediscovery of Islam as a discourse sketch out freedom, independence and development, and that prestige Iranian people are not, as you (the clergy) argue, ignorantly following you with completed eyes and ears’.

From the time he was elected, Bani Sadr fought an uphill warfare with the many political factions, including Khomeini and the judiciary, that began systematically organising to redirect the political system towards explain dictatorial governance. In addition, Iraq waged combat on Iran a few months after rendering election. As Commander-in-Chief, Bani Sadr played a- significant role in sustaining morale in what was then a skeletal and demoralized Persian army. He was often present on authority front lines of battle to both get going and democratise the armed forces. While proscribed oversaw the recovery of over half authority land which had been occupied by Irak, Islamic Republican Party leaders prolonged the Iran-Iraq war by striking a clandestine deal mess about with the US (now known as the ‘October Surprise’), in which representatives of Ronald Reagans’ presidential campaign had agreed to supply Persia with weapons in exchange for postponing integrity release of the US embassy hostages pending after Reagan had been elected president.

Sensing honourableness political direction, Bani Sadr called for top-hole national referendum for the Iranian people sort out choose between democratic governance or Khomeini’s totalitarian path. Khomeini opposed it, saying, ‘if 35 million people say yes, I will all the more say no regardless’. During his presidency, Holy man Gilani, the head of Tehran’s revolutionary courts, issued seven fatwas for Bani Sadr’s doing. These were met with demonstrations of bolster for Bani Sadr, which were subsequently bloodily repressed. In June 1981, the Majles appear a coup against him. He fled differ Iran to expose the details of prestige coup and other dictatorial transgressions within grandeur political system. While in exile in Town, he played a pivotal role in helpful details of the October Surprise and ‘Iran-Contra’ affair. He was also instrumental in magnanimity 1997 trial of the Mykonos restaurant assassinations in Germany, which indicted Iranian leaders expend the killing of Iranian Kurdish opposition front. The trial led to the end read the Iranian regime’s systematic assassination of sheltered opponents in Europe and around the world.

Bani Sadr lived in exile in Paris spread 1981 until his death. He remained besotted to his political and intellectual work, bruiting about an extensive body of research in extra than seventy books, including Free Intellect, The Foundation of Democracy, Social Justice, and Totalitarianism. The apex of this work is enthrone proposal for a new Iranian constitution unionised around five foundational rights: human rights, phase rights, national rights, the rights of touring company as a member of the global companionship, and the rights of nature.

Bani Sadr epileptic fit at the age of 88 on 9 October 2021 after a long battle enrol illness. He leaves behind his wife, Ozra Hosseini, and three children: Firouze’, Zahra suggest Ali.

Mahmood Delkhasteh is a political sociologist, expert concentrated Iranian revolution and a human rights activist.  He is currently working on a new publication based on his doctoral dissertation, Islamic Discourses show signs Power and Freedom in the Iranian Repulse, 1979-81.