A diminutive 64-year-old grandmother dressed top to toe in a modest black chador, Zahra Rahnavard is an unlikely icon, but the wife of the presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi emerged as the star of Iran's presidential campaign, and the secret weapon in what may yet prove to have been his electoral success.
Rahnavard appeared at a protest at Tehran University todayto urge students to continue their resistance and climb on to their rooftops to shout: "God is great!"
It was a bold intervention in a country where women rarely take a high profile role in politics, but Rahnavard, who holds a PhD in political science and was a political adviser to the former president Mohammad Khatami, is accustomed to breaking moulds.
Accompanying her husband on the campaign trail – unheard of in Iran – Rahnavard won rapt enthusiasm, especially among younger and female voters, addressing crowds with promises to eliminate discrimination against women, abolish the "morality police" and "help the youth to think freely".
So rattled was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by her popularity, he used a televised debate between the candidates to query the legitimacy of her doctorate. Rahnavard's response was to threaten to sue him, and accuse him of lying, debasing women and abusing his office. "I will not relax until I teach him a lesson," she said, to the astonishment of seasoned observers.
So popular has the writer and sculptor become in Iran that local media have compared her to the US first lady, a comparison that she rejected: "I am not Iran's Michelle Obama. I am Zahra, the follower of Fatimah Zahra [the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad]. I respect all women who are active."
Rahnavard's outspoken criticism of Ahmadinejad's regime is lent credibility by her impeccable revolutionary credentials. She met her husband at university, when both were involved in the secret campaign to overthrow the shah, and was exiled to the US until his removal in 1979. She is also a vocal supporter of the veil, arguing that it liberates women, though she has said it should be a woman's choice to wear it.
Her mantra on the campaign trail – that "getting rid of discrimination and demanding equal rights with men is the number one priority for women in Tehran" – is credited with galvanising young women to vote – long lines of them were described waiting outside polling stations last week.
