Ahmad Bourghani Farahani was an influential Iranian reformist politician, journalist, writer and political analyst. He had great impression in freedom of the press in Iran especially during the presidency of Mohamad Khatami, the former reformist president of Iran. During his brief tenure as vice-minister of Culture, Ahmad Bourghani oversaw the issuance of hundreds of press permits and the flowering of an independent Iranian press for the first time since 1979. His intellectuality couldn’t be tolerated by Iran’s conservatives and they tried to undercut the reformist press by reactivating the Press Court. Under the heavy pressure of the Commission for the Supervision of the Press (a joint committee of representatives of the three branches of government and the press that reviews press application and thus determines who can and cannot publish), after closure of a number of his journals including Jame’eh and Tous, and dismayed by lukewarm support from his own minister, Ayatollah Mohajerani, who narrowly survived a parliamentary impeachment motion for “cultural laxity”, Mr Bourghani resigned in February 1999. Two years later, he was elected as representative of Tehran to The Iranian Parliament, where he persuaded his goal for the freedom of the press in Iran and was one of the key people in debating the Reform of the Press laws. Shortly after, Ayatollah Khamenei demanded parliament to stop the debate. Two years ago, following a heart attack Mr Bourghani died in a Tehran hospital at the age of 48. Some Iranians in Toronto will honor his hard work and dedication for the freedom of the press and establishment of democracy in Iran by an event to be held this Saturday, February 6th at the University of Toronto.
Pictures are selected with permission from Mr Bourghani’s website and also fan pages of Facebook:
http://www.bourghani.com/
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Ahmad-Bourghani-Farahani/11855837881?ref=ts