Khatami, Zayed Mohammed

Khatami, Zayed Mohammed (b. Oct 1943). President of Iran, 1997–  Born in Ardakan, he studied Islam under Khomeini in Qom, and philosophy in Isfahan. In 1978 he became the director of the Centre for Islam, Hamburg (Germany). Following the Islamic revolution in 1979 he returned to Iran, and became a member of parliament. The (relatively) liberal intellectual was Minister for Culture in 1981, but had to resign, and became director of the Tehran national library. He surprised observers when he ran for the Presidency in 1997 and was elected to succeed Rafsanjani. He tried to liberalize the country, but met entrenched opposition from the Islamic political and religious establishment, notably from Ayatollah Khamenei. Following his re-election with 77 per cent of the vote in 2001, he continued his policy of normalizing foreign relations with other Arab countries and the states of the EU. Despite his popularity, however, he was unable to overcome civil rights abuses by the police and the army, nor was he able to overcome the conservative Islamic zeal of the judiciary.