Mohammad Reyshahri

Mohammad Reyshahri (Persian: محمد ری‌‌شهری‎), also known as Mohammad Mohammadi-Nik, (born 29 October 1946), best known as Reyshahri, is an Iranian politician and cleric who was the first Minister of Intelligence, served from 1984 to 1989 in the cabinet of Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi.

Mohammad Reyshahri
Member of the Assembly of Experts
Assumed office
24 May 2016
ConstituencyTehran Province
Majority1,952,563 (43.38%)
1st Minister of Intelligence of Iran
In office
18 August 1984 – 1 August 1989
PresidentAli Khamenei
Prime MinisterMir-Hossein Mousavi
Preceded byMinistry established
Succeeded byAli Fallahian
Personal details
Born
Mohammad Mohammadi-Nik

(1946-10-29) 29 October 1946
Rey, Iran
Political partyAssociation for Defence of Revolution Values (1996–1999)[1]
Alma materHaghani Circle

Early life and education

Reyshahri was born into a religious family in Rey on 29 October 1946.[2][3] He was educated in Qom and Najaf in the field of theology.[2] He and his successor at the ministry of intelligence, Ali Fallahian, are alumni of the Haqqani School in Qom.[4] He began to involve in political activities in June 1963 during the religious revolts after Khomeini's famous speech in Qom.[2]

Career

In 1967, Reyshahri fled to Najaf and stayed there for a while. Upon his return to Iran, he was imprisoned.[2] Until the revolution, he was banned from preaching.[2]

During the revolution, Reyshahri claimed to have discovered two abortive Coup d'état: the Nozheh coup, which was supposed to happen on 8 July 1980 by supporters of Shapour Bakhtiar, and was reported to Reyshahri by Saeed Hajjarian, and the Ghotbzadeh coup, which led to the execution of Sadegh Ghotbzadeh and the removal of grand ayatollah Ayatollah Kazem Shariatmadari from being a marja by the Society of Teachers of the Qom Hawza. The ayatollah was subsequently put under house arrest, and died in 1986. In his memoirs, Reyshahri reveals that he personally hit grand Ayatollah Shariatmadari during the interrogations.

Reyshahri served as minister of intelligence in the cabinet headed by then prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi from 1984 to 1989.[5] Into his tenure as minister of intelligence falls the case of Mehdi Hashemi. Reyshahri executed Hashemi two days ahead of schedule on 28 September 1987, so that Reyshahri would not need to follow a letter written by Khomeini on 28 September in which he informed Reyshahri that the sentence had been commuted to internal exile.[6]

Reyshahri was appointed chief prosecutor of the Special Court for the Clergy in 1990. It was Reyshahri who drafted the court's 47-article ordinance passed in 1990.[6] Before the Majlis elections in 1996 he established the Society for the Defence of the Values of the Islamic Revolution.[7] Reyshahri was also an unsuccessful presidential candidate in the election on 23 May 1997, which led to the presidency of Mohammad Khatami.[8] Reyshahri ranked fourth among the four candidates approved to run by the Guardian Council. Following the elections, he established

He was appointed representative for Hajj affairs to Ali Khameni.[9] He is the dean of the Dar Al Hadith Scientific Cultural Institute.[3]

References and notes
  1. "List of Legally Registerred Parties in Iran". Khorasan Newspaper. Pars Times. 30 July 2000. p. 4. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  2. Buchta, Wilfried (2000). Who rules Iran? (PDF). The Washington Institute and The Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. p. 19.
  3. "Dean of Dar Al-Hadith Scientific-Cultural Institute". Dar Al-Hadith Scientific-Cultural Institute. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  4. "Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security: A profile" (Report). Federal Research Division. December 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  5. Bar, Shmuel (2009). "Iranian terrorist policy and "export of revolution"" (PDF). Interdisciplinary Center. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  6. Künkler, Mirjam (13 May 2009). "The Special Court of the Clergy (Dādgāh-Ye Vizheh-Ye Ruhāniyat) and the Repression of Dissident Clergy in Iran". Social Science Research Network. SSRN 1505542.
  7. Alam, Shah (2000). "Conservatives, liberals and the struggle over Iranian politics". Strategic Analysis. 24 (3): 553–583. doi:10.1080/09700160008455232.
  8. Elton L. Daniel (16 January 2012). The History of Iran. ABC-CLIO. p. 234. ISBN 978-0-313-37510-1. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  9. "Iran Saudi Arabia ties growing ties: Reyshahri". Mathaba. 19 December 2007. Archived from the original on 18 April 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
Government offices
New office Minister of Intelligence of Iran
1984–1989		 Succeeded by
Ali Fallahian
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