Word: banisadr
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...250th day of captivity for the 53 American hostages in Iran, one of them unexpectedly found himself on the way to freedom. Last Thursday Radio Tehran broadcast the text of a message from the Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini to President Abolhassan Banisadr. "Considering the humane reasons that are seriously observed by Islam," decreed the Ayatullah, ailing Vice Consul Richard Queen, 28, "should be handed over to his parents so that they may provide treatment for him wherever they wish...
...announcement came as a surprise, even to most Iranian officials. Banisadr learned of Khomeini's decision only a few hours before the radio announcement. Half a world away, Jimmy Carter heard the news in Anchorage, Alaska, where he was stopping over on his way home from his visit to Japan. Declaring that the U.S. would be "very thankful" for Queen's release, the President quickly added: "The humanitarian thing to do would be to release all the hostages immediately." The next day he spoke with Queen for ten minutes by telephone. Happiest of all were Queen...
...some Western diplomats interpreted the release of Queen as "a good signal," possibly even a sort of trial balloon by Iranian authorities to determine how the populace would react. Others saw the release of Queen as a convoluted maneuver by Iran's clerical establishment to embarrass the beleaguered Banisadr. Observed a senior civil servant: "If Banisadr's rivals in the clergy were indeed trying to prove who is boss in Iran, they did an excellent job." Most Iranians believed that Khomeini, who chose to release five women and eight black male hostages last November, had simply decided, once...
...blessing of the all-powerful Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, who bestowed upon him command of the armed forces. Confident and ebullient, he promised to rebuild Iran's battered economy in accordance with the Islamic socialist theories he had developed as a doctoral student at the Sorbonne. Yet somehow Abolhassan Banisadr, 46, has become the saddest political casualty of the Islamic Republic; his clerical enemies in the Revolutionary Council have reduced him to a figurehead chief executive, frustrating his every move. Two weeks ago, in an admission of defeat, he handed in his resignation to Khomeini, to be exercised...
...Banisadr, meanwhile, seems powerless to deal with the country's problems, mainly because of ruthless political opposition from fundamentalist mullahs led by Ayatullah Seyyed Mohammed Beheshti, president of the Supreme Court. Defending himself against his critics, Banisadr bitterly complained that he could "not fight on ten different fronts" and announced that he had given Khomeini a standing letter of resignation to act on whenever the Ayatullah sees fit. Says a senior government official: "Banisadr is trying in vain to convince Khomeini that he should allow him to govern. But Khomeini is suspicious of anyone who does not wear...