Faezeh, 58, is Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s youngest and most controversial daughter. She is married to Hamid Lahouti Eshkevari and has two children, Hassan and Mona. Hassan lived in the UK and was briefly arrested upon his return to Iran in 2012. Mona is married but not much is known about her husband or her life. Faezeh was rumored to have divorced her husband, though she denied this in an interview published by Jamaran News in 2014.
By her account, Faezeh loved to study but was unable to pass the university entrance exam in Iran for several years until she finally gained admittance to Islamic Azad University, which was co-founded by her father in 1982. She holds a doctorate in human rights law from the school.
In 1989, early in her father’s first term as president, the Islamic Federation for Women’s Sports was founded and Faezeh, a sports fan, was appointed as its director. Faezeh held this position until 2009, when the sports federation was closed because of her political activities.
In 1996, former cabinet members and friends of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani founded the Executives of Construction Party (ECP), and Faezeh became the head of its women’s branch. The same year she won a seat in the 5th Majles. Two years into her term, Faezeh decided to try her hand at journalism by publishing Zan, a newspaper for women; one year later, it was banned for promoting feminism, among other offenses.
When she failed to win reelection, she decided to go abroad to further her education: “I first chose Canada but then changed my mind and went to the UK.” She obtained her master’s degree in human rights law from a university in Birmingham, UK, and lived there for two years “incognito.” She started a PhD program at the university but then transferred her credits to Islamic Azad University.
She now teaches law at the school’s Faculty of Law, which she implies was founded so she would have a teaching position. “We founded the faculty of law on Dr. Jassebi’s order, and I teach courses related to my field of study there.”
According to public records, Faezeh Hashemi served as an alternate board member of Daftar Nashr Maaref Enqelab from 2009 to at least 2013—records have not been updated for this institution since that year.
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Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Hamid Lahouti Eshkevari, Fatemeh Hashemi Bahramani
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