July 21, 2005. Copyright 2005, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Profile of IranÕs new hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, July 21, Graphic News:  Throughout the parched towns and villages of Iran, the dust has yet to settle on the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the new president. While many hope the son of a blacksmith will reverse their fortunes and fulfil promises to turn oil money into food on their tables -- others fear that his reign will reverse the freedoms of recent years.

At the same time, there can be few new heads of state accused of involvement in hostage-taking and murder, and fewer still who face the unrelenting scrutiny of the White House even before they take office. But AhmadinejadÕs surprise win over Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in June provides Washington with much food for thought.

Politically, Ahmadinejad is a hardline conservative with a strong support base among second-generation revolutionaries in the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran (also known as Abadgaran). A simple man whose campaign was backed by powerful conservatives, he is quoted as saying: ÒWe did not take part in a revolution so that we could have a democracyÓ.

Born in 1956 in Garmsar, near Tehran, Ahmadinejad was the fourth of seven children whose family set off for the capital to improve their lot when he was one year old. After gaining a PhD in Traffic and Transport from the University of Science and Technology, he served as an Islamic Revolutionary Guard during the Iran-Iraq war.

After being installed by hardliners as mayor of Tehran in 2003, he halted reforms begun by predecessors, shutting down fast food restaurants and ordering male city workers to wear beards. President Mohammad Khatami barred him from cabinet meetings, but this did not deter supporters attracted by his ÒprinciplistÓ attitude and revolutionary credentials -- he made it to the shortlist of candidates for World Mayor of 2005.

Since his election, more details have surfaced about his lifelong activism: during the reign of the last shah Ahmadinejad published opposition leaflets on a home printing press, he visited Lebanon to engage with Shia groups during the countryÕs civil war, and as a student he joined the ultraconservative Office for Strengthening Unity.

But it is his alleged involvement in the U.S. Embassy siege of 1979-81 that has caused most controversy. Former diplomats held hostage during the takeover allege that Ahmadinejad was a ringleader, claiming to have recognised his face after the election. President George W. Bush has said the allegations will be investigated fully. Ahmadinejad, who is to be inaugurated on August 3, denies them.

Meanwhile, Austrian prosecutors are investigating separate claims that IranÕs new president-elect was involved in the 1989 assassination of a Kurdish leader in Vienna. Politican Peter Pilz said there was credible evidence to link him to the murder of Iranian exile Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou and two colleagues on July 13, 1989.

Significantly, Ahmadinejad was the only candidate who spoke out against relations with the United States during the presidential race, saying: ÒAmerica was free to sever its ties with Iran, but it remains IranÕs decision to re-establish ties with AmericaÓ. He has also defended his countryÕs controversial nuclear programme and criticised the United Nations for being Òone-sided, stacked against the world of IslamÓ.

During his campaign, Ahmadinejad made much of his humble origins and solidarity with ordinary people, but the fact that he has been swept from relative obscurity to a position where he can now begin to undo the steady liberalisation of KhatamiÕs regime -- and to preach of a second Islamic revolution -- speaks volumes about the forces ranked on his side.
/ENDS