Saeed Hajjarian
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Saeed Hajjarian (Persian: سعید حجاریان), born 1954, is an Iranian political figure, intellectual, and journalist. He has been member of Tehran's city council, and
Hajjarian was a young Iranian revolutionary during the 1979 Iranian Revolution. After the revolution, he got involved with the formation of the intelligence apparatus of the newly founded Islamic Republic. Through the 1980s, he was working in the Ministry of Intelligence, where his positions included Vice Minister of Political Affairs. In late 1980s, he left the ministry, and established an Institute for Strategic Studies under the presidency. That was where he played an important role in creating a new discourse based on democracy and rule of law for his generation of revolutionaries.
When Mohammad Khatami was elected President in 1997, he appointed Hajjarian his political advisor. In 1999, Hajjarian was elected to the city council of Tehran in Iran's first city elections after the 1979 revolution. He was also the editor of Sobh-e Emrooz newspaper, which was a strong advocate of Khatami's reforms. He was believed to be the informational source of many of reports by two investigative journalists Akbar Ganji and Emadeddin Baghi.
From all these, the conservatives opposing Khatami came to the conclusion that he was the main strategist of the reformist camp. This led to his attempted assassination on the doorstep of Tehran's city council in March, 2000. He was not killed, but was badly paralyzed for a while. His assailant Saeed Asgar was arrested, but released after spending a short term in prison.
Quotes
- "Reforms are dead, long live the reforms!"
- "The main supporters of fighting against the Islamic Republic have put aside their revolts and guns. They have taken guitars and talk about political action now."
External link
- An interview with Hajjarian by Vaghaye Ettefaghieh (http://politic.iran-emrooz.de/more.php?id=6461_0_11_0_M)