Daryoush Homayoun
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Daryoush Homayoun is an Iranian journalist, author, intellectual, and politician. He is a former minister of information and tourism in the cabinet of Jamshid Amouzegar, founder of the daily newspaper Ayandegan, and a former high-ranking member of the Rastakhiz party. In exile he became one of the founders of the Constitutionalist Party of Iran. He is famous for his analytical writings and largely impartial assessment of history. His outspoken manner, criticizing the Islamic Republic with harsh tones, but also directing his criticism at the Pahlavi policies, has earned him respect of many, though also made him many enemies. He is one of the most influential Iranian opposition leaders in exile.
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[edit] Youth
Born in Tehran in 1928, he started political activity at the age of fourteen. In his younger years he was member of several Iranian parties, generally with nationalist views opposing the rise of leftist ideas and the influence of the Tudeh party. He turned gradually from a supporter of Mohammad Mossadegh to an opponent, and was imprisoned during Mossadegh's premiership.
[edit] Journalistic and political career
In the years following 1953, he finished his university studies and obtained a PhD in political science from the University of Tehran. He worked at the Iranian daily Ettelaat, and later founded the highly successful daily newspaper Ayandegan. In the cabinet of Jamshid Amouzegar he became the minister of information and tourism. Following the events leading up to the Iranian revolution, he was arrested in fall 1978, together with many other former officials whom the Shah regime tried to use as scapegoats in order to prevent its eventual downfall. He escaped prison on February 12, 1979, just after the revolution, and went in hiding. 15 months later he left Iran through the border with Turkey and went to Paris.
[edit] Exile
In exile, he has been an influential political analyst, writer, and opposition leader. In the nineties he initiated and helped create the Constitutionalist Party of Iran, a political party seeking to establish a democratic constitutional monarchy in Iran with the return of Reza Pahlavi to the throne.
