Masoumeh Ebtekar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Masoumeh Ebtekar (Persian: معصومه ابتکار; born 1960) was the Iranian "Vice President" and the head of the Environment Protection Organization of Iran under President Mohammad Khatami.

1 Education
2 Career
3 Political affiliation
4 Family
5 Awards and Honors
6 External links

[edit] Education

She was given by the current government of Iran a BSc in laboratory science from Shahid Beheshti University, and a PhD in immunology from Tarbiat Modares University in 1995, where she still teaches.

[edit] Career

[edit] Iran hostage crisis

In the Iran hostage crisis of 1979, Ebtekar was the spokeswoman of the students who had occupied the US Embassy. Dubbed "Mary" by the US press, she was selected because of her good command of English as the spokeswoman for the students who took 52 diplomats hostage in the American Embassy siege of 1979.

[edit] Professional career

Later, in 1981, she became the editor-in-chief of the English daily newspaper Kayhan International, selected by Khatami who was then the representative of Ayatollah Kosmeini in Kayhan Institute. She served in the newspaper until 1983. Since 1995, she has been the managing director of the journal Farzaneh.

[edit] Anti-Taliban speech for International Women's Day

On International Women's Day in 1998, Dr. Ebtekar (then vice-president of environmental affairs) shocked the Western news media when she made an impassioned speech condemning the horrific oppression of women by the Taliban Movement in Afghanistan – even though she herself was wearing a chador and failed to mention her own government's long history of oppressing Iran's female population.

[edit] First woman Vice-President of Iran

Dr. Ebtekar was the first woman to serve as Vice-President of Iran. Along with Zahra Shojaei, Masoumeh Ebtekar participated in the first cabinet since the Islamic Revolution to include women.

[edit] Political affiliation

Vice President Ebtekar is also a member of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, a "reformist" party founded in 1998

[edit] Family

Ebtekar is married and has two children.

[edit] Awards and Honors

Dr. Ebtekar was named one of the seven 2006 Champions of the Earth by the United Nations as a prominent and "inspirational" environmental leader who has made an impact at policy level in a region of the world. [1] [2]