Abolhassan Banisadr, Iran's first president after the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution who fled Tehran after being impeached for challenging the growing power of clerics as the nation became a theocracy, died Saturday. He was 88.
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Banisadr's family said that he died in a hospital in Paris after a long illness. Iranian state television followed with their own bulletin on his death. Neither elaborated on the illness Banisadr faced.
Born March 22, 1933 in Hamadan, Iran, Banisadr grew up in a religious family. His father Nasrollah Banisadr was an ayatollah, a high-ranking Shiite cleric, who opposed the policies of the shah's father, Reza Shah. Among a sea of black-robed Shiite clerics, Banisadr stood out for his Western-style suits. The difference 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 US Embassy hostage crisis and the invasion of Iran by Iraq – only added to the tumult that followed the revolution.
Earlier exiled to Iraq by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Khomeini ended up having to leave for France in 1978 under renewed pressure from the Iranian monarch. Arriving in Paris and speaking no French, it was Banisadr who initially gave the cleric a place to live after moving his own family out of their apartment to accommodate him.
After leaving Iran, Banisadr and Rajavi formed the National Council of Resistance of Iran. Banisadr would withdraw from the council in 1984 after the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq partnered with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein as his war against Iran continued.
He would remain outside of Paris for the rest of his life, under police guard after being targeted by suspected Iranian assassins.
