Dariush was born on 28th December, 1928, to a patriotic family in Isfahan. His father was one of the nationalist officers in the army, who was amongst those sent to war prisoner’s camp in Arak, by the order of the British during the Second World War.
Parwaneh was born on 20th March 1939 to a freedom loving family with a history of activism during the Iranian constitutional movement, in Tehran. In her teenage years, she was drawn to political campaigns; something which she owed to the freedom loving upbringing of her family and the general politicised climate of the country at the time. Her teenage years were concurrent with the struggle led by Dr. Mossadiq, for the nationalisation of the oil industry in Iran.
During
the military occupation of Iran by the Allied forces, Dariush was a passionate
teenager and was attracted to the independence visions of Dr. Mossadiq. He
joined the political campaign against the foreign occupiers and against the
separatists of Azerbijan and Kurdistan.
In 1948
he entered the Law School and joined the Pan-Iranist Party. He campaigned for
Dr. Mossadiq and his associates to be elected during the 16th
Parliamentary elections.
In 1950,
he was elected as the representative of Tehran university students and made a
fiery speech in Bahrestan Square, for the nationalisation of the Iranian oil
industry. In the aftermath of these campaigns he was imprisoned for the first
time.
In 1951,
Dariush along with a lot of his co-thinkers who were followers of Dr. Mossadiq,
left the Pan-Iranist Party and founded the Iran Nation Party.
In 1952,
the year in which Dr. Mossadiq
travelled to The Hague, and the year in which the British Petroleum company’s
control of Iranian oil was removed; Dariush and the Iran Nation Party
wholeheartedly supported Dr. Mossadiq’s democratic goals and fought against the
Shah’s puppets. Dariush was arrested twice in this year.
In the
national uprising of 21St July, Dariush and the Iran Nation Party
members were epical in their support of Dr. Mossadiq and since that date were
always very pivotal in mobilising popular forces behind Dr. Mossadiq.
In the
coup d’état of 19th August 1953, which resulted in the overthrow of
Dr. Mossadiq, Dariush was wounded in the clashes with the coup forces.
He and
his party activists embarked on an underground and organised resistance after
the coup, and the undercover headquarter of the Iran Nation Party started to
publish hand bills against the regime of the coup d’état. As the underground
struggle gathered momentum, the military governor set a bounty for Dariush
Foruhar, dead or alive.
He was
arrested again on 31St December 1953 and then in 1954 was exiled to
the Gheshm Island from the military governor’s prison.
During
his exile he did not give up and sent the “Unity-Revolution-Reprisal” plan for
the party and the national movement of resistance. He then secretly came to
Tehran and took on the administration of the national movement of resistance.
In this year during a street demonstration, he was arrested and imprisoned
along with some of his other comrades.
In 1956,
he was released from prison and after he exposed the vote fixing during the 19th
parliamentary elections, he was again arrested and imprisoned.
In 1958,
he attempted the secret publication of Iran Nation Party’s organ, Armane Mellat
(The Nation’s Aspiration),
During
these years Parwaneh was active in the Political Cultural Society of Anahita,
which backed the Iran Nation Party. This was where Daryoush and Parvaneh met
each other.
In 1959
Dariush was freed again after a short spell in prison. Parvaneh joined the Iran
Nation Party in this year. In 1960, Major General Hedayat, the Shah’s envoy
went to see Daryoush in prison. Major General Hedayat recommended to Dariush to
leave Iran forever. Dariush replied: “ I prefer prison to freedom away from my
homeland”.
The
second National Front was formed in this year and Dariush became a member in
absentia. After being freed, he was chosen as the National Front candidate for
the parliamentary elections. This led to his arrest again. During this time,
Parvaneh was a student of sociology in the Tehran University and played an
active role in the student movement. She shattered the atmosphere of silence on
6th December by a passionate speech she made at a student
demonstration.
In April
1961, Dariush was freed from prison, and on 23rd April that year,
Parwaneh and Dariush married each other. Dariush was arrested and imprisoned
again after commemoration ceremonies of 21St July uprising. Parvaneh
had a key role in the teachers’ freedom movement.
In 1962,
Parvaneh along with Homa Darabi were the women representatives to the first
National Front congress. Years later, Homa Darabi set herself on fire after the
clerics hijacked the 1979 revolution in protest to the inhumane treatment of
women in Iran.
As a
result of the endeavours by the National Front in exposing the trickery of the
Shah’s “white revolution” and his mock referendum, Dariush was once again
arrested and imprisoned until September of 1963. During the massacre of 5th
June in 1963, Dariush along with some of the National Front leaders in prison
issued a statement condemning this massacre and condemned the arrest and exile of Ayatollah
Khomeini. In this very year, as a result of the efforts by Dariush and
Parvaneh, the third National Front was created. As the activities of the third
National Front peaked in 1964, Dariush and some of the other leaders of the
National front were arrested. Dariush was sentenced to three years
imprisonment.
In 1966,
Dr. Mossadiq died.
In 1970
the Iranian Island of Bahrain was sold and separated from the mainland Iran.
Dariush after issuing a statement of protest was arrested and remained in
prison for three years.
In 1977,
Dariush along with Dr. Bakhtiar and Dr. Sanjabi wrote an open letter to the
Shah and reminded him of his wrong doings and listed the social and political
shortcomings governing Iran. In the same year in a climate of dictatorship and
fear, Dariush made a speech in the wake held by Iranian merchants for
Khomeini’s son, Mustaffa, amidst the intense climate of fear in the country. In
another gathering during a religious festival, the Guard Commandos of the
regime attacked the meeting and beat up Dariush and other attendees. As the
liberation movement reached its new climax, Dariush and Parwaneh started to
organise the “Union of National Forces” and Parvaneh played a key role in
publishing the newsletter of this organisation.
In 1978,
during the new peaks of the Iranian uprising, the security forces placed
explosives in Dariush and Parvaneh’s house in order to abort their activities.
Later that year Dariush and Dr. Sanjabi were arrested during a press
conference.
After the
victory of the Iranian revolution in February, Dariush took up the post of
Labour Minister in the provisional government of Bazargan. The creation of the
Labour Loans Fund, Unemployment Benefit, synchronization of workers holidays
with civil servant holidays, and the increase of minimum wage were some of his
achievements during his short period in the office. He was also put in charge
of bringing back peace to the Kurdistan province but he was prevented from
gaining fruitful results by obstacles put in his way from all sides. Eventually
when the monopolisation of power by the clerics consolidated, Dariush resigned
from his cabinet post.
Parvaneh
became the editor of the Great Union and after that Iran Nation Party’s organ,
Armane Mellat – (the Nation’s Aspirations). In this publication Parwaneh
continued to expose the reactionary and power hungry faction, until finally in
the spring of 1981, the publication was forced to close down.
After the
power hungry faction consolidated their grip on power, Dariush became a wanted
man by the authorities. He first went into hiding but was arrested shortly
after.
He
himself stated that the few months he spent in the Islamic regime’s prisons was
much harder to endure than the fifteen years in total he spent in the Shah’s
prisons.
After his release from prison, Dariush, Parwaneh and their comrades in the Iran Nation Party became the main cornerstone for the opposition to the despotism inside Iran, and the couple used every opportunity to further the struggle of the Iranian people for freedom. In their last years they used all their efforts on all fronts to establish solidarity between all national forces. They played a big role in enlightening the people by giving interviews, issuing statements and disseminating weekly newsletters. Gradually their presence in Iranian politics became a shelter, behind which all the forces for independence and liberty could work in unison. Sadly, on 22nd November 1998, they were murdered by the evil hands of despotism in their own house.