Mohammad-Reza Khatami ( fa, محمدرضا خاتمی, born 1959) is an Iranian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and

nephrologist Nephrology (from Greek'' nephros'' "kidney", combined with the suffix ''-logy'', "the study of") is a specialty of adult internal medicine and pediatric medicine that concerns the study of the kidneys, specifically normal kidney function (ren ...

Early life and education

Khatami was born in

Ardakan Ardakan ( fa, اردكان, also romanized as Ardakān and Artagan) is the capital city of Ardakan County, Yazd Province, Iran. At the 2016 census, its population was 75,271 in 22,475 families. Ardakan is the second major city of Yazd Province. ...

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 ...

, in 1959. He is younger brother of former president

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 ...

. Khatami is educated in medicine and before entering politics, he was a practicing

(

kidney The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blood ...

specialist) for a number of years. He is a faculty member of Tehran University of Medical sciences.

Career

Khatami was the first Secretary-General of the

Islamic Iran Participation Front The Islamic Iran Participation Front ( fa, جبهه مشارکت ایران اسلامی; ''Jebheye Mosharekate Iran-e Eslaami'') was a reformist political party in Iran. It was sometimes described as the most dominant member within the 2nd of Kho ...

, the largest Iranian reformist party. He is now a member of the central council of the party. He is also the former deputy speaker of the

Iranian parliament The Islamic Consultative Assembly ( fa, مجلس شورای اسلامی, Majles-e Showrā-ye Eslāmī), also called the Iranian Parliament, the Iranian Majles (Arabicised spelling Majlis) or ICA, is the national legislative body of Iran. The P ...

. He entered politics in 1997 after his brother's victory and was appointed deputy minister of health. He was elected in March 2000 for the sixth term of the

Islamic Republic The term Islamic republic has been used in different ways. Some Muslim religious leaders have used it as the name for a theoretical form of Islamic theocratic government enforcing sharia, or laws compatible with sharia. The term has also been u ...

's parliament's election as the first representative of

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 ...

with 1,794,365 votes from the people of Tehran. He has also acted as the ''manager in charge'' of the now-banned reformist daily ''

Mosharekat ''Mosharekat'' ( fa, مشاركت; meaning ''Participation'') was a former pro-reform newspaper of the Islamic Iran Participation Front which was one of 13 reformist newspapers banned in Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of I ...

''. Sometimes described as "ultraliberal" in his views, he was "disqualified from running for any office by the

Guardian Council The Guardian Council, (also called Council of Guardians or Constitutional Council, fa, شورای نگهبان, Shourā-ye Negahbān) is an appointed and constitutionally mandated 12-member council that wields considerable power and influence i ...

Personal life

In 1983, Khatami married

Zahra Eshraghi Zahra Eshraghi Khomeini ( fa, زهرا اشراقی, translit=''Zahrâ Eshrâqi'') (born 1964) is an Iranian activist and former government official who believes in feminism and human rights. Early life and education Eshraghi was born in 1964. Sh ...

, granddaughter of

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 ...

(founder of the

Islamic republic The term Islamic republic has been used in different ways. Some Muslim religious leaders have used it as the name for a theoretical form of Islamic theocratic government enforcing sharia, or laws compatible with sharia. The term has also been u ...

), and an activist in

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

. They have two children — a daughter, Fatemeh, who at the moment studying at a university in London, and a son, Ali. On 28 March 2020, Khatami announced he tests positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

with publishing a video showing he is at hospital.Former Iran deputy speaker infected with coronavirus
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References

1959 births Living people Iranian reformists First Deputies of Islamic Consultative Assembly Second Deputies of Islamic Consultative Assembly Iranian urologists Iranian nephrologists Iranian democracy activists People from Ardakan Islamic Iran Participation Front politicians Members of the 6th Islamic Consultative Assembly Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line Secretaries-General of political parties in Iran Islamic Association of University Instructors politicians Mohammad Khatami {{Iran-politician-stub