Mohammad Reyshahri (), also known as Mohammad Mohammadi-Nik (29 October 1946 – 21 March 2022), was an Iranian politician, cleric, judge and religious scholar, who notably served as Chief Judge of the Revolutionary Military Tribunal (1979–1984), as the first Minister of Intelligence and Security (1984–1989) in the cabinet of Prime Minister

Mir-Hossein Mousavi Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh (, ; born 2 March 1942) is an Iranian politician, artist, architect and opposition figure who served as the 45th and last Prime Minister of Iran from 1981 to 1989. He was a reformist candidate for the 2009 Iranian p ...

and as Prosecutor-General of Iran from 1989 to 1991.

Early life and education

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

Najaf Najaf is the capital city of the Najaf Governorate in central Iraq, about 160 km (99 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2024 is about 1.41 million people. It is widely considered amongst the holiest cities of Shia Islam an ...

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

Ali Fallahian Ali Fallahian ( , born 1949)FALLAHIAN, ALI (1949– ), in ''The A to Z of Middle Eastern Intelligence'', Ephraim Kahana and Muhammad Suwaed, pp. 85-86, 2009 is an Iranian cleric, judge and politician. He was Iran's second Minister of Intelligen ...

, were alumni of the Haqqani School in Qom.

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 Ali Hosseini Khamenei (; born 19 April 1939) is an Iranian cleric and politician who has served as the second supreme leader of Iran since 1989. He previously served as the third President of Iran, president from 1981 to 1989. Khamenei's tenure ...

, who later became

supreme leader of Iran The supreme leader of Iran, also referred to as the supreme leader of the Islamic Revolution, but officially called the supreme leadership authority, is the head of state and the highest political and religious authority of Iran (above the Presi ...

. Until the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...

, he was banned from preaching. After the victory of the revolution, Reyshahri served as Chief Judge of the Revolutionary Military Tribunal from 1979 to 1984, and was involved in investigating and purging the plotters of the Nojeh coup (which was planned for 8 July 1980 by supporters of Shapour Bakhtiar and was reported to Reyshahri by Saeed Hajjarian) as well as 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. From 1984 to 1989, in Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi's cabinet, Reyshahri served as the inaugural Minister of Intelligence and Security. He played a major role in defining and expanding the Ministry's role and remit, collaborating especially with the intelligence services of

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

and

South Yemen South Yemen, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, abbreviated to Democratic Yemen, was a country in South Arabia that existed in what is now southeast Yemen from 1967 until Yemeni unification, its unification with the Yemen A ...

, which supported Iran during its war with Iraq. Into his tenure also 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 Ayatollah Khomeini on 28 September in which he informed Reyshahri that the sentence had been commuted to internal exile. Reyshahri was then appointed Prosecutor-General of Iran, serving from 1989 to 1991, and also became 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. In 1991 Reyshahri was appointed "Representative on Hajj and Pilgrimage Affairs" by Supreme Leader

placing him in charge of the new "Organization for

Hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...

and Pilgrimage". This independent entity was thereafter separate from the office responsible for endowments and charity, with Iranian law stating that "all of the Hajj's cultural, political, and outreach issues are under the exclusive authority of the Supreme Leader's Representative". He continued to hold that post at least until 2007. He was the dean of the Dar Al Hadith Scientific Cultural Institute. Reyshahri was also an unsuccessful presidential candidate in the election on 23 May 1997, which led to the presidency of

Mohammad Khatami Mohammad Khatami (born 14 October 1943) is an Iranian politician and Shia cleric 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 1992. Later, he was critic ...

. He finished in fourth place among the four candidates approved by the Guardian Council. In 2016, he also became a member of the

Assembly of Experts The Assembly of Experts (), also translated as the Assembly of Experts of the Leadership or as the Council of Experts, is the deliberative body empowered to appoint the Supreme Leader of Iran. All directly elected members must first be vetted ...

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 21 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 Iranian ayatollahs 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 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners