Mohammad Reyshahri ( fa, محمد ری‌‌شهری), also known as Mohammad Mohammadi-Nik (29 October 1946 – 21 March 2022), was an Iranian politician and cleric who was the first Minister of Intelligence, serving from 1984 to 1989 in the cabinet of Prime Minister

Mir-Hossein Mousavi Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh ( fa, میرحسین موسوی خامنه, Mīr-Hoseyn Mūsavī Khāmené, ; born 2 March 1942) is an Iranian reformist politician, artist and architect who served as the forty-ninth and last Prime Minister of Ira ...

Early life and education

Reyshahri was born into a religious family in Rey on 29 October 1946. He was educated in Qom and

Najaf Najaf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف) or An-Najaf al-Ashraf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف ٱلْأَشْرَف), also known as Baniqia ( ar, بَانِيقِيَا), is a city in central Iraq about 160 km (100 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated popula ...

in the field of theology. He and his successor at the ministry of intelligence,

Ali Fallahian Ali Fallahian ( fa, علی فلاحیان , born 23 October 1949) is an Iranian politician and cleric. He served as intelligence minister from 1989 to 1997 under the presidency of Ali Akbar Rafsanjani. Early life and education Fallahian was bo ...

, were alumni of the

Haqqani School Haghani school (also Haqqani) is a Shi'i school of thought in Iran based in the holy city of Qom and formerly headed by Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, an influential theologian. The Haghani Circle has its origin in the Haghani seminary, f ...

in Qom.

Family

Career

Reyshahri began to involve himself in political activities in June 1963 during the religious revolts after Khomeini's famous speech in Qom. In 1967, he fled to Najaf and stayed there for a while. Upon his return to Iran, he was imprisoned. While incarcerated, he met

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 ...

, who later became

supreme leader of Iran The Supreme Leader of Iran ( fa, رهبر ایران, rahbar-e irān) is the List of heads of state of Iran, head of state of the Iran, Islamic Republic of Iran. The Supreme Leader directs the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, executiv ...

. Until 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 was banned from preaching. From 1984 to 1989, in prime minister

Mir Hossein Mousavi ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

, Reyshahri served as the inaugural minister of intelligence. Into his tenure as minister of intelligence falls the case of

Mehdi Hashemi Mehdi Hashemi (1944 – 28 September 1987) was an Iranian Shi'a cleric who was defrocked by the Special Clerical Court. After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, he became a senior official in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards; he was executed by the Is ...

. Reyshahri executed Hashemi two days ahead of schedule on 28 September 1987, so that Reyshahri would not need to follow a letter written by

Ayatollah 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 ...

on 28 September in which he informed Reyshahri that the sentence had been commuted to internal exile. Reyshahri was appointed chief prosecutor of the Special Court for the Clergy in 1990. He drafted the court's 47-article ordinance, which was subsequently passed in 1990. Before the Majlis elections in 1996, he established the Society for the Defence of the Values of the Islamic Revolution. Reyshahri was also an unsuccessful presidential candidate in

the election ''The Election'' () is a political drama series produced by Hong Kong Television Network (HKTV). With a budget of HK$15 million, filming started in July 2014 and wrapped up on 28 October 2014. Popularly voted to be the inaugural drama of ...

on 23 May 1997, which led to the presidency of

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 ...

. He finished in fourth place among the four candidates approved 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 ...

. He was appointed representative for Hajj affairs to

. He was the dean of the Dar Al Hadith Scientific Cultural Institute.

Later life

Reyshahri wrote more than 75 books on Islamic teachings, and one of them, entitled ''The Wisdom of Christ'', was translated and published in English in South Africa to mark the New Year in 2022. Reyshahri died at a hospital in Tehran on 22 March 2022 at the age of 75. At the funeral on 23 March, Ali Khamenei described Reyshahri as "a benevolent person who served the people" and "always a source of blessings".

References

External links

Members of the Expediency Discernment Council (2000)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reyshahri, Mohammad 1946 births 2022 deaths Iranian Shia clerics People from Ray, Iran Ministers of Intelligence of Iran Iranian prosecutors Members of the Expediency Discernment Council Members of the Assembly of Experts Candidates in the 1997 Iranian presidential election Association for Defence of Revolution Values politicians