Word: banisadre
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Flak-jacketed police then escorted the pair to Banisadr's old apartment in Cachan, a middle-class suburb of Paris, where he lived during most of his 16 years of exile from the Shah's regime. "I will stay here until the people [of Iran] find the path to democracy," Banisadr told a throng of reporters outside his home. At week's end he moved temporarily to a friend's home in northern Paris, apparently for security reasons...
...former President blamed Khomeini, who was once his mentor, for "the appalling disaster that has befallen the country. Said Banisadr: "We must try to find a quicker way of overthrowing the absolutists who lust after power only." The remarks upset French officials, who reminded Banisadr of the terms of his exile and forced him to cancel a press conference...
...Banisadr's sudden escape stunned many diehard supporters, some of whom expressed a sense of betrayal after his earlier vows to stay and fight what he called "the new despotism...
Other Iranians in exile scorned the idea of joining him in a united front against Khomeini. In particular, Banisadr was spurned by Shapour Bakhtiar, the last Prime Minister appointed by the Shah, who had also taken refuge in Paris. Bakhtiar argued, correctly, that Banisadr had helped build the Islamic Republic of Iran. Said the former Prime Minister: "What is happening to Banisadr is a direct result of what he himself created...
...Banisadr is depending for most of his support on the Mujahedin, who spent years battling the Shah's secret police. More to the point, the Mujahedin want a modern Islamic state, a fact that undercuts the appeal of the mullahs and their obsession with the past. The guerrillas are estimated to have as many as 100,000 people under arms, with several hundred thousand additional sympathizers. The clerics have accused the Mujahedin of a rash of devastating bombings, including the June 28 explosion at Islamic Republic Party headquarters that may have killed as many as 150 people...