Rezā Shāh
Fatemi was born in Nain, Iran on 10 February 1917, the youngest of five. He was educated in his hometown. In his teens he moved to Isfahan for higher education. He was a caustic critic of the Iranian monarch Rezā Shāh, and his views were candidly reflected in his newspaper editorials. From 1944 to 1948 he studied in France, where he earned a bachelor's degree in journalism. There he also received a doctorate degree in law in 1948.