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Saturday, 20 October 2007 |
The Associated Press
 NAME - Ali Larijani.
BIRTH DATE - Born 1958 in the Iraqi city of Najaf; naturalized Iranian citizen.
EDUCATION - Ph.D. and master's degree in western philosophy from Tehran University; bachelor's degree in computer science and mathematics from Sharif University in Iran.
EXPERIENCE - A former culture minister in the 1990s, Larijani belongs to a family of hard-line politicians holding posts in several powerful institutions. He was head of Iran's state-run radio and television network from 1994 to 2004 and used the national radio and TV to suppress democratic reform.
Larijani was also a former commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards. In 2005, he was appointed as the top nuclear negotiator by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
FAMILY - Son of an ayatollah, Larijani married the daughter of the late Ayatollah Morteza Motahari, a close confidant of Iran's revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
QUOTE - Iran's deal with the Europeans to suspend uranium enrichment was "swapping a pearl for a candy bar." |
