Abolhassan Banisadr

Abolhassan Banisadr   (politician)
Born	22 March 1933 Iran
Died	9 October 2021 (Age 88) Paris, France
Nationality	Iranian
Alma mater	at University of Tehran, Sorbonne
President of Iran In office 5 February 1980 - 20 June 1981  Acting Iran/Minister of Foreign Affairs In office 12 November 1979 - 29 November 1979  Iran/Minister of Finance In office 12 November 1979 - 11 March 1980

Seyyed Abolhassan Banisadr was an Iranian politician, writer, and political dissident. He 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. Prior to his presidency, he was the minister of foreign affairs in the interim government. He had resided for many years in France where he co-founded the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

In his 1989 book My Turn to Speak he wrote of the October Surprise secret dealings between the Ronald Reagan presidential campaign and leaders in Tehran to prolong the Iran hostage crisis before the 1980 United States presidential election.

My Turn to Speak

In 1991, Banisadr released an English translation of his 1989 text My Turn to Speak: Iran, the Revolution and Secret Deals with the U.S. In the book, Banisadr wrote of the October Surprise secret dealings between the Ronald Reagan presidential campaign and leaders in Tehran to prolong the Iran hostage crisis before the 1980 United States presidential election. He also wrote 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.

The book was attempted discredited in US corporate media. Lloyd Grove of The Washington Post wrote: "The book is not what normally passes for a bestseller. Cobbled together from a series of interviews conducted by French journalist Jean-Charles Deniau, it is never merely direct when it can be enigmatic, never just simple when it can be labyrinthine." In a review for Foreign Affairs, William B. Quandt described the book as "a rambling, self-serving series of reminiscences" and "long on sensational allegations and devoid of documentation that might lend credence to Bani-Sadr's claims." Kirkus Reviews said "frequent sensational accusations render his tale an eccentric, implausible commentary on the tragic folly of the Iranian Revolution."

Early life and education

Banisadr was born on 22 March 1933 in Hamadān. His father was an ayatollah and close to Ruhollah Khomeini. Banisadr studied law, theology, and sociology at University of Tehran. In the 1960s, he studied finance and economics at the Sorbonne. In 1972, Banisadr's father died and he attended the funeral in Iraq, where he first met Ayatollah Khomeini.

Banisadr participated in the anti-Shah student movement during the early 1960s and was imprisoned twice, and was wounded during an uprising in 1963, which led to his fleeing to France. He later joined the Iranian resistance group led by Khomeini, becoming one of his hard-line advisors. Banisadr returned to Iran together with Khomeini as the revolution was beginning in February 1979. He wrote a book on Islamic finance, Eghtesad Tohidi, which roughly translates as "The Economics of Monotheism."

Islamic Revolution 1979

In Paris he joined the Islamic exile opposition of Khomeini's followers, who himself came to Paris from Iraq in 1978 to prepare for the coup that followed in 1979. Banisadr persuaded Khomeini to form a broad alliance of opponents of the Shah that would bring about a revolution in Iran. Many Iranian students and left-wing intellectuals supported Khomeini not because they opposed women's rights or the Shah's land reforms, but because they wanted to abolish the monarchy and establish a republic. They did not realize that Khomeini had sided with the clergy in 1953, who had advocated the overthrow of Mossadegh.

When Khomeini finally returned to Iran as revolutionary leader in February 1979, Banisadr accompanied him and was immediately integrated into the political leadership. He was elected on August 3, 1979 as a representative of Tehran Province to the Assembly of Experts that drafted the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The non-party Banisadr was close to the Iranian Freedom Movement of Khomeini-appointed Prime Minister Mehdi Bāzargān, which was in the minority in the expert assembly. The Islamic Republican Party under ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti had the majority and implemented the principle of Welāyat-e Faqih ("governorship of the jurist") in the constitution.

After the occupation of the American embassy by Islamist students, Prime Minister Bāzargān resigned on November 6, 1979. In the subsequently formed "cabinet without a prime minister", Banisadr was initially foreign minister (only for two weeks until he was replaced by Sadegh Ghotbzadeh) and economics and finance ministers (until his inauguration as president). On December 3, 1979, the new constitution was accepted in a referendum according to official figures with 99.5% - other sources, however, speak of only about 60%.

Presidency

Banisadr won the presidential election on January 25, 1980 with 75.7% of the vote. The revolutionary leader Khomeini had insisted that clergy should not hold government offices, which Banisadr accommodated. On February 4, 1980, Khomeini appointed him the first President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. However, Khomeini retained the post of supreme leader, which according to the constitution takes precedence over the president and can dismiss him under certain circumstances.

Banisadr tried to curtail the power of the Islamic legal and religious scholars (mullahs) in the state. However, it was enshrined in the new constitution. In return, the ayatollahs Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ali Khamenei wanted to limit the president's role to a purely representative one. In the parliamentary elections in March and May 1980, the Islamic Republican Party won, with Banisadr's supporters being in the minority. His opponent Rafsanjani became President of the Parliament ( majles ). In August 1980 Banisadr had to accept the appointment of Mohammad Ali Rajai as Prime Minister, with whom he soon came into conflict over filling government posts.

After the outbreak of the First Gulf War between Iran and Iraq, Banisadr wrote a letter to Supreme Leader Khomeini in late October 1980, complaining about what he saw as incompetent ministers, warning of a deteriorating economic situation and calling for a reorganization of the armed forces. In addition, Banisadr advocated the release of the American hostages and began negotiations with one opposition group, the Islamic-socialist People's Mujahideen. He not only angered the majority faction in the Majles, but eventually also lost the support of Khomeini, whose "spiritual son" he had once been considered.

Banisadr's opponents accused him of poor leadership of the armed forces and of being responsible for defeats in the war with Iraq. On June 21, 1981, Parliament declared the President "politically incompetent" and initiated his impeachment. The next day, the Supreme Leader deposed Banisadr, accused him of conspiracy and treason, and ordered his arrest.

Escape and exile

Banisadr fled under adventurous conditions, disguised as a woman according to unconfirmed reports, with the help of the People's Mujahideen on July 29, 1981 to France, where he lived until his death. In August 1981, he co-founded the National Council of Resistance of Iran with the leader of the People's Mujahideen, Massoud Rajavi, in Paris . Two years later he retired from the Council of Resistance.

His last notable public appearance was as a witness in the 1996 trial after Mykonos restaurant assassinations in Berlin.

In April 2007, in an interview with Bahman Nirumand, he was of the opinion:

"that Iran does not have the capability to build the bomb, at least not in the foreseeable future. Of course, the radicals would like to have nuclear weapons. But even they know that they are far from it. But why do they insist on enriching uranium, why are they exposing the country to dangers that can have serious consequences? Because they cannot exist without crises."

Abolhassan Banisadr died on October 9, 2021 at the age of 88 in a Paris hospital after a long illness.

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