Dariush Forouhar (; 18 August 1928 – 22 November 1998) was an Iranian Pan-Iranism politician and leader of Nation Party of Iran. In 1998, he and his wife, Parvaneh Forouhar, were stabbed to death in their home. They were among the victims of the chain murders of Iran.
Early life
Forouhar was born in 1928 in Isfahan, 'Eshafah'. His father was a general in
Iranian Army who was arrested in WW2 by the British during the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran after attempting to form an armed resistance.
Career and political activities
According to Ali Razmjoo in
Hezb-e-Pan-Iranist, Forouhar was one of the founding members of the original nationalist Pan-Iranist Party of Iran in 1951 with Mohsen Pezeshkpour.
During the
Pahlavi Iran, he had been very active in the anti-Shah nationalist movement and was a strong supporter and close friend of the Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh. In the midst of post-revolutionary tensions in Iranian Kurdistan in 1979, Forouhar was part of a delegation sent by Tehran to negotiate with Kurdish political and religious leaders. Although this delegation's recommendations were never implemented by the central government and Kurdish revolt was dealt with harshly, Forouhar's attempts to reach a peaceful settlement with the
Kurds earned him respect among the Kurds.
Forouhar served as minister of labor in the interim government of Mehdi Bazargan in 1979.
Death
Forouhar and his wife, Parvaneh, were overt opponents of Velayet-e-Faqih (clerical theocracy) and under continuous surveillance.
[ On 21 November 1998, the couple were fatally stabbed at their home. The murders, which are believed to have been politically motivated, remain unsolved, although the general belief is that the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence was involved and had ordered the killings.][ iranian.com][ Forouhar][ globalsecurity.org][ globalsecurity.org 1999][ iranian.com Forouhar 2002]
It is thought that the murders were provoked by Forouhar's criticism of human rights abuses by the Islamic Republic in interviews with Western radio stations that beamed Persian-language programs to Iran. This "brought them to the attention of Iran's ubiquitous intelligence service".[Sciolino, Elaine, Persian Mirrors, Touchstone, (2000), p.234, ]
Under pressure from public opinion, the then Iranian president Mohammad Khatami formed a committee to follow up the case, which eventually asked for the resignation of the Minister of Intelligence, Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi. One of the main characters behind the case, Saeed Emami, reportedly committed suicide while in prison.
Shirin Ebadi, the lawyer of the Forouhars' relatives quoting Parastou says: "All evidence shows that my father was preparing himself to go to prison, because at the time of his slaying, his shoes had no laces, he did not wear his wrist watch and had his wallet emptied of its contents and papers except for some money".
Their murders brought to light a pattern known as the chain murders of Iran.
Personal life
Forouhar had two children. Son, Arash Forouhar, and daughter, Parastou, are both politically active and continue to raise awareness of the plight of political dissidents in Iran. In 2009, Parastou signed an open letter of apology posted to Iranian.com along with 266 other Iranian academics, writers, artists, journalists about the persecution of Baháʼís.
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