Empress Farah Pahlavi kneels at the resting place of her late husband, H.I.M. the Shahanshah of Iran
Cairo July 27 2002 - a Day of Remembrance
Empress Farah Pahlavi kneels at the resting place of her
late husband, H.I.M. the Shahanshah of Iran
Empress Farah Pahlavi with Mrs. Jahan Sadat wife of the late
President
His Excellency Anwar Sadat - Photos courtesy INTERNEWS, Munich.
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CAIRO, July 28 (AFP) - Iran's former Empress Farah Diba said Iranians were disillusioned with promises of reform and needed to "regain their freedom" through a change of regime in Tehran. "When President (Mohammad) Khatami came, many young people, with what he was saying, had some hope for some change and some reform, but after five years nothing has happened," she told AFP in an interview on a visit to Cairo.
Farah Diba said the real struggle in Iran was not between reformists led by Khatami and Islamic conservatives, who hold the reins of power, but between "the people and the regime." "I think the quarrel between the so-called radicals (conservatives) and reformers is just a game to prolong the system," she said, adding that "the majority of the people have reached the point that they are beyond reforms." "What they want is a change of regime," said Farah Diba, 63, on her annual trip to Cairo to visit the tomb of her husband, the shah of Iran, who died in the Egyptian capital 22 years ago.
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was forced into exile in January 1979 during the Islamic revolution, and lived in Egypt as a guest of the late president Anwar Sadat. He died of cancer on July 27, 1980. Farah Diba also lamented the "lack of freedom" in the Islamic republic and "the corruption of the people in power" demonstrated by the jailing of student activists and the persecution of writers.
"A lot of the population is living below the poverty level. And because of that many young girls have been forced into prostitution, and many young people out of desperation have become drug addicts," she said. "My dream is for the country to regain its freedom, for our people to regain freedom and opportunity and for (Iran) to regain its respectable place in the family of nations," the former empress added. Farah Diba, wearing black, was accompanied by Sadat's widow Jihan to place flowers at the tomb of Sadat. Around 40 members of the Iranian diaspora were on hand to greet her. The group then headed to Al-Rifai mosque in northern Cairo where the shah is buried and where hundreds of flower bundles were already placed near the white marble tomb. One Iranian woman told AFP she makes the trip every year from New York to take part in the commemoration.
The shah, who had already been married twice, met Farah Diba in France in the mid-1950s while making visits to Iranian students. She was studying architecture. They had four children: two boys, Reza and Ali Reza, and two daughters, Leila and Farahnaz. Leila committed suicide in London June 2001 at the age of 31.