Hot News
Iran’s first President after 1979 revolution Banisadr dies at 88
Agency Report
Iran’s first president after the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, Abolhassan Banisadr, who fled Tehran after being impeached for challenging the growing power of clerics as the nation became a theocracy, died Saturday.
He was 88.
Among a sea of black-robed Shiite clerics, Banisadr stood out for his Western-style suits and a background so French that it was in philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre that he confided his belief he’d be Iran’s first president some 15 years before it happened.
Those differences only isolated him as the nationalist sought to implement a socialist style economy in Iran underpinned by a deep Shiite faith instilled in him by his cleric father.
Banisadr would never consolidate his grip on the government he supposedly led as events far beyond his control — including the U.S. Embassy hostage crisis and the invasion of Iran by Iraq — only added to the tumult that followed the revolution.
True power remained firmly wielded by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, whom Banisadr worked with in exile in France and followed back to Tehran amid the revolution. But Khomeini would cast Banisadr aside after only 16 months in office, sending him fleeing back to Paris, where he would remain for decades.
“I was like a child watching my father slowly turn into an alcoholic,” Banisadr later said of Khomeini. “The drug this time was power.”
-
Economy12 hours ago
Minimum wage: Labour demands N497k, FG, OPS offers N57k
-
Metro12 hours ago
Family petitions IGP to probe fraud allegations against detained accountant
-
Entertainment12 hours ago
Top 10 greatest music albums of all time
-
Entertainment13 hours ago
Singer Flavour loses father
-
News12 hours ago
Edo govt, Benin traditional council clash over artifacts custody
-
Politics8 hours ago
Kano assembly passes new Emirates law, dethrones four emirs
-
News9 hours ago
100 days: Wike announces two months free train in Abuja
-
News6 hours ago
Money laundering: Binance executive collapses in court