Word: akbar
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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With music still frowned upon,the Islamic Republic of Iran has no true pop stars. But Akbar Ganji is mobbed like one nearly everywhere he goes these days. When Iran's No. 1 muckraking journalist attended a lecture at Tehran University last month, students whistled and chanted his name until he went onstage and gave a speech. At an election rally featuring the country's most popular reform politicians, it was Ganji who brought down the house. "Ganji! Ganji!" the crowd roared when he arrived. Once a functionary in the Revolutionary Guards and Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance, Ganji...
This being Iran, a victory for the reformers may not be precisely what it seems: the unknown factor is former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Desperate for a big name to head their slate, the hard-liners turned to Rafsanjani, despite the fact that his party, Servants of Construction, was already part of the pro-Khatami coalition. Rafsanjani leaped at the chance, hoping to win an easy Majlis seat and stage a political comeback, possibly as speaker, a post he held from 1980 to '89. While the President and Rafsanjani agree on issues like opening up to the West...