The father of the Islamic Revolution is how these Iranians remember Imam Khomeini on the 33rd anniversary of his passing.
Faraan: Assembling at his mausoleum in south of Tehran, Iranians once again paid tribute to Imam Khomeini, the founding father of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the late leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which put an end to centuries of autocracy in the country.
As with every year, incumbent leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei addressed the nation. Imam Khomeini passed away in 1989 at the age of 86, almost a decade after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, which saw the overthrow of the US-backed Pahlavi regime in Iran, headed by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, known as the Shah.
Imam Khomeini spent many years in exile in Iraq, Turkey and France, from where he led a growing grassroots movement, which ultimately ousted the Shah and led to the formation of the Islamic Republic. Something which these people believe did not sit well with the West. People here see the Revolution as an ideology; a legacy of Imam Khomeini that needs to be preserved against all odds, including the economic hardship that exists in Iran.
Imam Khomeini established the Islamic Republic following a referendum held in 1979, when more than 98 percent of eligible Iranians voted ‘yes’ to the Islamic Republic. Three decades after his passing, Imam Khomeini is still remembered as a man who changed the course of history in Iran, with an emphasis on freedom and independence. People here believe his call for an independent Iran has materialized, despite the Western economic and political pressure aimed at isolating the Islamic Republic.
