Fatemeh Karroubi

Fatemeh Karroubi (; born 18 May 1949) in Aligudarz Lorestan Province, iran is an Iranian politician and activist. She is the wife of Mehdi Karroubi, a politician, Shia cleric, chairman of the National Trust Party and a candidate for President of Iran during the 2005 and 2009 presidential elections. Fatemeh Karroubi campaigned openly with her husband during the 2009 presidential campaign, drawing comparisons to another high-profile political spouse, Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of Mir Hossein Mousavi. Candidates campaigning openly with their wives had previously been a rare occurrence within the Islamic Republic of Iran since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Biography Fatemeh Karroubi was born into a merchant family in Aligoudarz, a city located in the western portion of Lorestan province. She first met and married her husband, Mehdi Karroubi, in Aligoudarz when she was 14 years old. Mehdi Karroubi hailed from a Shia clerical family. In a 2009 interview with AFP, Karroubi recalled that the marriage was ultimately successful, "It was strange for me to get married into a clerical family. I honestly didn't know him well. But I was a lucky girl as he was always there for me." Her husband entered the political sphere, which brought him into opposition with the government of then Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Mehdi Karroubi was imprisoned on several occasions during the 1970s. At one point, Fatemeh Karroubi brought the couple's second son, Taghi Karroubi, who was six months old at the time, to the Qasr Prison in Tehran to meet his father for the first time. Political career Fatemeh Karroubi and her husband have been noted in the media for their shared interest in politics.