Abdollah Jafarali Jassbi (born 25 November 1944) is an Iranian academic and politician who was president of

Azad University The Islamic Azad University (IAU; fa, دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی, ''Dāneshgāh-e Āzād-e Eslāmi'') is a private university system headquartered in Tehran, Iran. It is one of the largest comprehensive systems of universities, colleg ...

from the establishment of the university in 1982 until his resignation in 2012. He was also a presidential candidate in 1993 and

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

Early life

He was born on 25 November 1944 in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. He went to E'tezad School at the age of 7 and complete his six years high school period in Tehran. He has B.Sc. degree in Industrial Engineering from

Iran University of Science and Technology Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST) ( fa, دانشگاه علم و صنعت ایران, ''Danushgah-e 'lâm vâ Sân't-e Iran'') is a research institution and university of engineering and science in Iran. The university is home to ...

, an MSc in Industrial Management and a PhD in Management of Production & Technology, both from

Aston University Aston University (abbreviated as ''Aston''. for post-nominals) is a public research university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK's first c ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

.Personal Web page
His PhD thesis (1979) was entitled "Productivity analysis and measurement".Aston University Library catalogue
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Academic career

After receiving his PhD, he became a college teacher at

. He also became a member of the board of directors of the university in 1970 but he was fired from the university in 1975 after supporting

Ruhollah Khomeini Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Imam Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of ...

. After the victory of the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

, he came back to his academic career in 1979. He was appointed as Vice President of

in March 1979. In 1982, he proposed a plan for the establishment of

Islamic Azad University The Islamic Azad University (IAU; fa, دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی, ''Dāneshgāh-e Āzād-e Eslāmi'') is a private university system headquartered in Tehran, Iran. It is one of the largest comprehensive systems of universities, colleg ...

. Along with

Ali Khamenei Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei ( fa, سید علی حسینی خامنه‌ای, ; born 19 April 1939) is a Twelver Shia ''marja and the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran, in office since 1989. He was previously the third president o ...

and

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani ( fa, اکبر هاشمی رفسنجانی, Akbar Hāshemī Rafsanjānī, born Akbar Hashemi Bahramani, 25 August 1934 – 8 January 2017) was an Iranian politician, writer, and one of the founding fathers of the Islami ...

, Jassbi was a co-founder of Azad University network which is among the biggest NGOs in Iran. He was elected as its first president in January 1983 and served in this position for nearly 30 years. He announced his retirement from Azad University in November 2011 and officially resigned on 17 January 2012, but remained as one of the members of the board of directors of the university. He was succeeded by

Farhad Daneshjoo Farhad Daneshjoo ( fa, فرهاد دانشجو) (born 4 March 1955 in Damghan) is an Iranian academic, and acting president of Tarbiat Modares University. He is the former president of the Azad University, which was elected for this position on ...

Political career

He was a central council member of

Islamic Republican Party The Islamic Republican Party (IRP; fa, حزب جمهوری اسلامی, Ḥezb-e Jomhūrī-e Eslāmī, also translated Islamic Republic Party) formed in 1979 to assist the Iranian Revolution and Ayatollah Khomeini establish theocracy in Iran. ...

. Jassbi is also described as a "former

Motalefeh The Islamic Coalition Party) from 1963 to 1979 and "Islamic Coalition Society" ( fa, جمعیت مؤتلفه اسلامی, jamʿiyat-e moʾtalefe-ye eslâmi) from 1979 to 2004. (ICP; fa, حزب مؤتلفه اسلامی, ḥezb-e moʾtalefe-ye esl ...

advocate". He was regarded the spiritual leader of

Freethinkers' Pinnacle Party Freethinkers' Pinnacle Party or Summit of Freethinkers or Freethinkers Front ( fa, حزب چکاد آزاداندیشان, ''Chekad-e Azadandishan'') is an Iranian principalist political party founded in 2000, mostly by Islamic Azad University aca ...

. He was nominated as one of the candidates in 1993 presidential election and received 1,511,574 and lost the election to the

. He was also a presidential candidate during 2001 presidential election but only received 237,907 of votes and ranked in fourth place which

Mohammad Khatami Sayyid Mohammad Khatami ( fa, سید محمد خاتمی, ; born 14 October 1943) is an Iranian politician who served as the fifth president of Iran from 3 August 1997 to 3 August 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture from 1982 to ...

was reelected for a second term.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jassbi, Abdollah 1944 births Living people Alumni of Aston University People from Tehran Islamic Azad University faculty Candidates for President of Iran Iran University of Science and Technology faculty Candidates in the 2001 Iranian presidential election Summit of Freethinkers Party politicians Central Council of the Islamic Republican Party members Iranian industrial engineers Islamic Coalition Party politicians Spiritual leaders of political parties in Iran