25 Facts About Abolhassan Banisadr

Abolhassan Banisadr was an Iranian politician, writer, and political dissident.

Abolhassan Banisadr was the first president of Iran after the 1979 Iranian Revolution abolished the monarchy, serving from February 1980 until his impeachment by parliament in June 1981.

Abolhassan Banisadr later focused on political writings about his revolutionary activities and his critiques of the Iranian government.

Abolhassan Banisadr became a critic of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the country's handling of its 2009 elections.

Abolhassan Banisadr was born on 22 March 1933 in Baghcheh, a small village north of Hamedan.

Abolhassan Banisadr's father, Nasrollah, was a Shia cleric who had originally migrated to the area from Bijar, Kurdistan.

Abolhassan Banisadr participated in the anti-Shah student movement during the early 1960s, which led to his being imprisoned twice and wounded during the 1963 uprising.

Abolhassan Banisadr wrote a book on Islamic finance, Eghtesad Tohidi, which roughly translates as "The Economics of Monotheism".

In 1972, Abolhassan Banisadr's father died and it was at the funeral in Iraq where he first became acquainted with Ruhollah Khomeini.

Abolhassan Banisadr later joined the Iranian resistance group led by Khomeini, becoming one of his most fervent advisors.

On 1 February 1979, with the end of the Iranian Revolution drawing near, Abolhassan Banisadr returned to the country together with Khomeini.

On 12 November 1979, following the Interim Government of Iran dissolution, Abolhassan Banisadr was appointed by the Council to replace Ebrahim Yazdi as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In January 1980, Abolhassan Banisadr registered to become a candidate for Iran's newly formed presidential office.

Abolhassan Banisadr was not an Islamic cleric; Khomeini, who was by then the Supreme Leader of Iran with a constitutional authority to dismiss politicians, had insisted that members of the clergy not run for positions in the government.

On 25 January 1980, Abolhassan Banisadr was elected to a four-year term as president, receiving 78.9 percent of the vote.

Abolhassan Banisadr called for a referendum, arguing that the people should have the right to choose, and pointing out that he had received over 10 million votes in the presidential election while the IRP had received less than 4 million in the parliamentary elections.

Abolhassan Banisadr had gone into hiding in Tehran for a few days before his removal, assisted by the MEK.

Abolhassan Banisadr met numerous times while hiding with MEK leader Massoud Rajavi to plan an alliance.

Furthermore, Abolhassan Banisadr opposed the armed opposition as initiated and sustained by Rajavi and instead sought support for Iran during the war with Iraq.

In 1991, Abolhassan Banisadr released an English translation of his 1989 text My Turn to Speak: Iran, the Revolution and Secret Deals with the US In the book, Abolhassan Banisadr alleged covert dealings between the Ronald Reagan presidential campaign and leaders in Tehran to prolong the Iran hostage crisis before the 1980 United States presidential election.

Abolhassan Banisadr claimed that Henry Kissinger plotted to set up a Palestinian state in the Iranian province of Khuzestan and that Zbigniew Brzezinski conspired with Saddam Hussein to plot Iraq's 1980 invasion of Iran.

In 1980, Abolhassan Banisadr openly criticized the Iran hostage crisis, arguing that the ordeal was isolating Iran from the Third World and forming "a state within a state".

In published articles on the 2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Abolhassan Banisadr ascribed the unusually open political climate before the election to the government's great need to prove its legitimacy, which he said was lost.

Abolhassan Banisadr further stated that the spontaneous uprising had cost the government its political legitimacy, and that Khamenei's threats led to the violent crackdown, which cost the government its religious legitimacy.

Abolhassan Banisadr is buried in Versailles, in the cemetery of Gonards.