Abolhassan Banisadr (88), Iran’s first president after the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, passed away. He was hospitalised in South-east Paris, due to prolonged illness.
Banisadr had emerged from obscurity to become Iran’s first president in January 1980 with the help of the Islamic clergy. He was a different man among a sea of black-robed Shiite clerics, often preferring Western-style suits and a background so French that it was very similar to philosopher Jean Paul Sartre. Banisadr never consolidated his grip on the government he supposedly led, as events far beyond his control, like the U.S. Embassy hostage crisis and the invasion of Iran by Iraq, only added to the uproar that followed the revolution.
But after a power struggle with radical clerics Banisadr fled from Tehran to France after being impeached for challenging the growing power of clerics as the nation became a theocracy. After fleeing away from Iran, he spent the rest of his life in Paris.
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