{"id":6612,"date":"2026-08-19T21:04:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T04:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tehranbureau.com\/?p=6612"},"modified":"2026-08-19T21:04:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T04:04:35","slug":"the-rafsanjani-children-part-3-faezeh-and-fatemeh-hashemi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/resanegar.com\/en\/the-rafsanjani-children-part-3-faezeh-and-fatemeh-hashemi\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rafsanjani Children, Part 3: Faezeh and Fatemeh Hashemi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The two daughters of the late president have wide-ranging business interests, based in both inheritance and marriage<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The late statesman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was both a founder and a victim of the kleptocratic system at the heart of the Islamic Republic. A shrewd strategist who was at once a man of the people and a ruthless elitist, his presidency, from 1989 to 1997, gave rise to the clannish power networks and corrupt institutions that continue to paralyze Iran\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lack of comprehensive public business records from the Rafsanjani era make tracing his family\u2019s role in Iran\u2019s economy difficult, but Rafsanjani was a dedicated diary keeper and one of the few IRI officials to publish annual memoirs until his suspicious death in 2017.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These memoirs, augmented by our research into current business records and whistleblower interviews, offer a wealth of information about the Rafsanjani clan\u2019s relationships with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other top decision makers, family scandals, and pivotal events that took place behind closed doors and were never shared with the nation.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this series, Tehran Bureau provides an in-depth look at the Rafsanjani family\u2019s business interests. Part one<\/a> examined the network of Mohsen Hashemi, Rafsanjani\u2019s oldest son. Part two<\/a> turned to the youngest of Rafsanjani\u2019s three sons, Yaser Hashemi, along with his wife, Maryam Salari, and her family connections. Now, in part three, we focus on the late president\u2019s two daughters, Faezeh and Fatemeh, and the Lahouti clan they both married into.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Faezeh Hashemi Bahramani<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Faezeh, 58, is Rafsanjani\u2019s <\/strong>youngest and most controversial daughter. She is married to Hamid Lahouti Eshkevari and has two children, Hassan and Mona<\/a>. Hassan lived in the UK and was briefly arrested<\/a> upon his return to Iran in 2012. Mona is married but not much is known about her husband or her life. Faezeh was rumored to have divorced her husband, though she denied this in an interview published by Jamaran News<\/a> in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By her account, Faezeh loved to study but was unable to pass the university entrance exam in Iran for several years until she finally gained admittance to Islamic Azad University, which was co-founded by her father in 1982. She holds a doctorate in human rights law from the school.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1989, early in her father\u2019s first term as president, the Islamic Federation for Women\u2019s Sports was founded and Faezeh, a sports fan, was appointed as its director. Faezeh held this position until 2009, when the sports federation was closed because of her political activities<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1996, former cabinet members and friends of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani founded the Executives of Construction Party (ECP),<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> and Faezeh became the head of its women\u2019s branch<\/a>. The same year she won a seat in the 5th Majles<\/a>. Two years into her term, Faezeh decided to try her hand at journalism by publishing Zan<\/em>, a newspaper for women<\/a>;<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> one year later, it was banned for promoting feminism, among other offenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When she failed to win reelection, she decided to go abroad to further her education<\/a>: \u201cI first chose Canada but then changed my mind and went to the UK.\u201d She obtained her master\u2019s degree in human rights law from a university in Birmingham, UK, and lived there for two years \u201cincognito.\u201d She started a PhD program at the university<\/a> but then transferred her credits to Islamic Azad University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She now teaches law at the school\u2019s Faculty of Law, which she implies<\/a> was founded so she would have a teaching position. \u201cWe founded the faculty of law on Dr. Jassebi\u2019s<\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span> order, and I teach courses related to my field of study there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to public records, Faezeh Hashemi served as an alternate board member of Daftar Nashr Maaref Enqelab<\/a> from 2009 to at least 2013\u2014records have not been updated for this institution since that year.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faezeh\u2019s husband is connected to several companies, including:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n