| Karim Sanjabi کریم سنجابی |
|
|---|---|
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 11 February 1979 – 1 April 1979 |
|
| Prime Minister | Mehdi Bazargan |
| Deputy | Ebrahim Yazdi |
| Preceded by | Ahmad Mirfenderescy |
| Succeeded by | Ebrahim Yazdi |
| Minister of Education | |
| In office 19 January 1952 – 6 February 1953 |
|
| Prime Minister | Mohammad Mossadegh |
| Preceded by | Abbas Aram |
| Succeeded by | Hossein Ghods-Nakhai |
| Leader of National Front | |
| In office 19 March 1967 – 1 January 1988 |
|
| Deputy | Ahmad Zirakzadeh Shapour Bakhtiar Dariush Forouhar |
| Preceded by | Mohammad Mossadegh |
| Succeeded by | Adib Boroumand |
| Personal details | |
| Born | September 1904 Kermanshah, Iran |
| Died | July 4, 1995 (aged 90) Carbondale, Illinois, United States |
| Nationality | Iranian |
| Political party | National Front |
| Spouse(s) | Fakhrolmolouk Ardalan |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | Sorbonne University, Faculty of Law |
| Religion | Shi'a Islam |
Karim Sanjabi (September 1904–4 July 1995) (Persian: کریم سنجابی ) was an Iranian liberal political leader of the 20th century. He was born in Kermanshah, Iran.
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He was born in September, 1904 in Kermanshah. He studied law and politics at Sorbonne University. He is notable as being one of the founders of the National Front, a group of politically active Iranians who wished to rid Iran of foreign domination and introduce a parliamentary and democratic political system into the country. Sanjabi was a loyal supporter of Mohammad Mossadegh (the charismatic leader of the nationalists) and he later served as minister of education under Mossadegh (who became prime minister in April 1951) in 1952. Mossadegh had led the movement to nationalize the British-controlled oil industry in Iran (which, after nationalization, became known as the National Iranian Oil Company) and after this was accomplished, he became engaged in a heated battle with the British (who had previously controlled the oil industry and wished to reassert control over it) and with the forces rallying around Mohammad Reza Shah (the king of Iran who was opposed to Mossadegh's policies vis-a-vis the British, as well as the prime minister's efforts at limiting the Shah's power and influence). After a CIA-MI6 coup d'état overthrew Mossadegh in August 1953 and re-established the Shah on the throne, Sanjabi, along with other Mossadegh supporters, went into opposition against the Shah's regime. He was heavily involved in the formation of the Second National Front in 1960. The reconstituted National Front was to remain active for five years, but under increasingly worsening circumstances. Despite its moderate[says who?] demands for electoral reforms and a Shah that would "reign and not rule", the Shah refused to tolerate the Front's activities. His powerful security forces, most notably the infamous[says who?] SAVAK, silenced the likes of Sanjabi and other secular democrats. Due to this and a variety of other factors, it had dissolved by 1965. The Front was to remain dormant until the late 1970s. It reorganized in late 1977, with Karim Sanjabi as its leader, with a few others, such as Shapour Bakhtiar and Dariush Forouhar, also playing prominent roles.
As the leader of the National Front during the revolutionary uprising of 1978–1979, Sanjabi and his colleagues initially wished to negotiate a peaceful solution with the Shah. However, in November 1978, he met as representative of the National Front with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in France. He had gone there hoping to convince Khomeini to support the creation of a coalition government headed by the National Front. Despite the rising revolutionary fervor, Sanjabi and many other liberals had remained loyal to the idea of a constitutional monarchy with the Shah as ceremonial figurehead and they wished to bring Khomeini over to their point of view. Khomeini, however, refused to budge and reiterated his demand for the overthrow of the monarchy. In the end, Sanjabi, acting as head of the National Front, capitulated to Khomeini's demands. Khomeini at the time was extremely popular amongst the religious masses, and Sanjabi emerged from his meeting "with a short declaration that spoke of both Islam and democracy as basic principles",[1] and Sanjabi declared his support for Khomeini. Unfortunately[says who?] for this agreement, after the overthrow of the monarchy on February 11, 1979, Khomeini "explicitly refused to put the same word, democracy, into either the title of the Republic or its constitution."[1] Sanjabi served as the foreign minister of the provisional government (February–April 1979). After the creation of the Islamic republic, he became an opponent of Khomeini's regime and he fled Iran in 1982.
He passed away on July 4, 1995 in Carbondale, Illinois, United States at the age of 90.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Ahmad Mirfenderescy |
Foreign Minister of Iran 1979 |
Succeeded by Ebrahim Yazdi |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Party created |
Deputy Leader of National Front 1950-1967 |
Succeeded by Ahmad Zirakzadeh |
| Preceded by Mohammad Mossadegh |
Leader of National Front 1967-1988 |
Succeeded by Adib Boroumand |
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