PARIS (Dispatches) -
Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, who became Iran’s first president after the 1979 Islamic Revolution before fleeing to France, died on Saturday aged 88.
He died at the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital in Paris following a long illness, his wife and children said.
Bani-Sadr had emerged from obscurity to become Iran’s first president in February 1980. But after betraying the country during the Iraqi war on Iran, he fled the following year to France, where he spent the rest of his life.
Bani-Sadr took office in February 1980 after winning election the previous month with more than 75% of votes.
Within months of being elected, Bani-Sadr was locked in hostility with the revolutionary elements of the nascent Islamic Republic as he tried to curb them by giving key jobs to liberal elements.
Parliament impeached and dismissed Bani-Sadr in June 1981, forcing him to go underground with the help of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) terrorist group.
One month later, he flew to Paris in women’s attire, where he formed a loosely-knit alliance with the terrorist group to overthrow the Islamic Republic.