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Dariush Furuhar was born in 1928 A.D. (1307 Shamsi,
Iranian Calendar) in Isfahan. His father, Sadeq Furuhar, was an
army major and his mother was Aqdas Jaber Ansari. Sadeg Furuhar
was one of the freedom fighters of the Constitution Revolution of
Iran in 1906 (1285 Shamsi) and became the governor of Yazd and Chahar
Mahal Bakhtiary Provinces at the time of King Reza Pahlavi. During
the occupation of Iran by allied forces in 1941 (1320 Shamsi), Sadeq
Furuhar was arrested with Major Zahedi and he was accused of collaborating
with Germans.
- Dariush was brought up in a small house in the Pars district of
Tehran. Dariush Furuhar was interested in politics and during his
studies in the Faculty of Law of Tehran University he and his friends
vowed to fight against communism and they set up Pan-Iranian Party,
an extremist ultra-nationalist party influenced by the German Nazi
Party on 6th October 1947 (26 Shahrivar 1326). They wished to bring
the whole Plain of Iran under one flag and establish "Iran-e
Bozorg" (Great Iran, made up of Iran and Azerbijan, Tajikistan
and other ex-Iranian territories). Later, the Pan-Iranian Party split
and Dariush Furuhar and his friends set up INP. INP was supporting
Dr Mosaddeq, the leader of Jebhe Melli-Iran, while the other Pan-Iranists
were monarchists. Dr Mosaddeq did not support Furuhar seriously, but
he respected Furuhar's abilities. At age 22, Furuhar was arrested
for the first time. After graduation, he got permission to act as
a barrister but he never practised law. In 1953 (1332), during the
climax of the argument between Dr Mosaddeq and his religious rival
Ayatollah Kashani (The Speaker of Parliament), Furuhar and his friends
attacked Haddad Zadeh, a cleric who was lecturing against Dr Mosaddeq
during an Islamic gathering organised by Ayatollah Kashani. The late
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was present in that gathering and therefore
he did not like Furuhar because of the incident.
- On the 17th August 1953, the CIA and British Intelligence Services
plotted a Coup against Dr Mosaddeq and restored power to the King
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. General Zahedi, a friend of Furuhar, became
the Prime Minister and saved Dariush Furuhar from any serious retribution.
After the Coup, Furuhar went hiding but later he was arrested. After
Furuhar's release, the activities of INP continued on a lesser scale.
In 1959 (1338), Furuhar was arrested for the third time.
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In 1960 (1339), when "Jebhe-Melli" was
reorganised, Furuhar was in prison, but his party's members were
involved with Jebhe. In 1961, INP changed its constitution and removed
the articles on Pan-Iranian and Nazi elements from the Constitution.
- In (1961), he married Parvaneh Eskandari, a political student of
Tehran University who had been imprisoned in connection with "Jebhe-Melli".
Dr Mosaddeq sent them a congratulation note written on the back of
his photograph. In 1965 (1344), the third Jebhe-Melli was set up by
FMI, INP, Hezb-e Mardom-e Iran (People's Party of Iran), the Society
of Socialists, and other parties. But police arrested the leaders
of the parties including Furuhar and prevented the revival of Jebhe-Melli-e
Iran. Furuhar was sentenced to three years in prison. In 1970 (1349),
INP issued a statement against the separation of Bahrain from Iran.
In 1978, Furuhar joined Ayatollah Khomeini and he was one of the passengers
of the Air France Flight which brought Khomeini to Iran in 1979 (1357).
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After the Islamic Revolution, Furuhar became Labour
Minister in the cabinet of Bazargan, the first Prime Minister, in
1979. In the 1990s, Furuhar and his wife intensified their attack
on the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and gave interviews
with the foreign media. In November 1998, Furuhar and his wife Parvaneh
were murdered by agents of the Intelligence Ministry of Iran. Dariush
Furuhar was 70 years old and Parvaneh was 58.
