Tehran, June 11: She has become one of the most high-profile figures in one of the most exciting Iranian election campaigns – and she is not even running for office. It would be easy to downplay the importance of Zahra Rahnavard as a creation of the Western media seeking an exotic angle. Married to opposition candidate Mirhossein Mousavi, she has even been dubbed Iran’s Michelle Obama.
But the 64-year-old academic, artist and grandmother has, in fact, created enough of a stir to rattle the re-election campaign of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And in a country where virtually nothing is known about Mrs Ahmadinejad, she is rewriting the role of political spouse and attracting growing numbers of followers in her own right.
In rally after rally, Mr Mousavi has wheeled out his wife to address the crowds. And Dr Rahnavard does not disappoint, mixing acerbic criticism of the incumbent president with strident, populist calls for greater rights for women and an end to political persecution.
Observers note with interest that she is not being censored by Iran’s religious establishment despite her often risque pronouncements. Indeed, when Mr Ahmadinejad claimed in the middle of a television debate that her educational qualifications were bogus, he was pointedly and publicly rebuked by the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Kha-menei.
Dr Rahnavard’s response was to threaten to sue. The Iranian president stepped back from such personal attacks for a while, but then, facing another barrage of biting criticism from the popular double act, he snapped again yesterday at his last public pre-election rally, accusing his rivals of Hitler-style smear tactics.
–Agencies