Most Newsworthy Figure of 2014 Selected by Radio Farda Audience

Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has been chosen as the most newsworthy figure of 2014 for the second consecutive year by the audience of Radio Farda in its fourth annual poll. In this survey, which saw participation from around 17,000 people, Zarif received over 40% of the votes among ten candidates listed. In the previous three editions, the audience had selected Reza Pahlavi, a political activist and son of the last Shah of Iran, Nasrin Sotoudeh, a lawyer and human rights activist, and Mohammad Javad Zarif as the most newsworthy figures for the years 2011, 2012, and 2013 respectively. In this year's poll, Ali Motahari, a conservative representative from Tehran in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, ranked second with approximately 15% of the votes. Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Nasrin Sotoudeh, and pop singer and composer Morteza Pashaei secured the third to fifth positions respectively. Over the four years of this poll, Mir Hossein Mousavi, the last Prime Minister of Iran, and Nasrin Sotoudeh have appeared three times in the final list of the ten most newsworthy figures. Other notable figures who have made it to the final list in two out of the four polls include Ali Motahari, filmmaker Jafar Panahi, political activist and filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and Mohammad Javad Zarif.