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Mehdi Karroubi, a reform-minded cleric,has a long background of
fighting against Iran’s last dynasty and has held senior jobs such as
parliament speaker since the 1979 Islamic revolution. He lost to
Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad in presidential elections in 2005 and 2009. Both
times he claimed rigging helped the fundamentalist president to sweep
to power. Since the disputed election last June, Mr Karroubi is
described as one of the opposition leaders. Najmeh Bozorgmehr,
FT’s Tehran correspondent, interviewed him on Monday January 25 in his
apartment in Niavaran, an elegant neighbourhood in northern Tehran.The
edited transcript of the interview follows: