CONFIDENTIAL
(Phonetic: forooHAR)
Leader, National Front
(since, August 1978)
Long active in the opposition movement, Daryush Foruhar has spent 15 of the last 20 years in prison; most recently, he was jailed from 11 November to 6 December 1978. He is the former leader of the now defunct Nation or Iran Party, one of the groups that made up the old National Front (NF) during the 1950's and 1960's. Foruhar has a law degree but rather than practice his profession, he used his education and propoganda talents to expose what he considers to be illegal government actions. An able political organizer, he could claim considerable credit for making the Nation of Iran Party the most militant and best organized of the parties in the NF during the late 1960s. He is an activist, who has urged street action to demonstrate popular dissatisfaction with the government. His popular appeal, particularly among university students, during the 1960s was recognized by both the government and his colleagues in the opposition movement. Firmly committed to reform and the restoration of "constitutional rule," he has refused all blandishments from the government to induce him to renounce his stands. (C)
Foruhar has been active in the opposition's current campaign to discredit the government on the basis of its human rights record. He was one of the three signers of a letter published in the French newspaper Le Monde in June 1977 that condemed the Shah's rule and called for the strict application of constitutional principles. In November 1977 he organized the Union of National Front Forces, which advocated the restoration of "constitutional rule" and of personal freedoms and the nationalization of industry. During 1978 he and several other opposition leaders have worked.
