Mohammad-Taghi Khalaji
Mohammad-Taghi Khalaji (born March 31, 1948) is an Iranian Shia cleric. He has been described as "a prominent Qom cleric close to reformist clerics Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri and Ayatollah Yousef Sane'i." He was arrested on January 13, 2010, taken to Evin Prison in Tehran and as of January 26 was being held "without charge in solitary confinement, without access to a lawyer or family visits." Overview Khalaji was the son of a farmer in the province of Isfahan and came from "a conservative religious background." When he was 5 years old, he moved to Tehran, where his three brothers lived. In 1968, after graduating from high school and then Shokooh English Language Institute, he started to work as a bank accountant. In 1969, under the influence of the rising religious fervor in Iran, he left "his job in the bank and its good salary" and moved to Qom with his fiancée Mohtaram, to begin study in a seminary, becoming the first in his family to be a cleric. In Qom he joined the pro ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ayatollah Mohammad-Taghi Khalaji
Ayatollah (, ; ; ) is an Title of honor, honorific title for high-ranking Twelver Shia clergy. It came into widespread usage in the 20th century. Originally used as a title bestowed by popular/clerical acclaim for a small number of the most distinguished ''marja' at-taqlid'' ''mujtahid'', it suffered from "inflation" following the 1979 Iranian Revolution when it came to be used for "any established mujtahid".Momen, ''An Introduction to Shi'i Islam'', 1985, p.205-6 By 2015 it was further expanded to include any student who had passed their Mujtahid final exam, leading to "thousands" of Ayatollahs. The title is not used by the Sunni Islam, Sunni community of Iran. In the Western world – especially after the Iranian Revolution – it was associated with Ruhollah Khomeini, who was so well known as to often be referred to as "The Ayatollah". Etymology The title is originally derived from the Arabic word Grammatical modifier#Premodifiers and postmodifiers, post-modified with t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Special Court For The Clergy
Special Clerical Court, or Special Court for Clerics ( , ''dādgāh-e vizheh-ye ruhāniyat'') is a special Iranian judicial system for prosecuting crimes, both ordinary and political, committed by Islamic clerics and scholars. The Special Clerical Court can defrock and disbar Islamic jurists, give sentences of imprisonment, corporal punishment, execution, etc. The court functions independently of the regular Iranian judicial framework, with its own security and prison systems, "generally secret and confidential" cases, proceedings and procedures, and is accountable only to the Supreme Leader of Iran, (Ali Khamenei as of 2024). The most senior Islamic politician to be prosecuted and sentenced to prison since the Iranian Revolution was Abdollah Nouri (Persian: عبدالله نوری) who was sentenced to five years in prison for political and religious dissent by the court in 1999. The Court was established in the early 1980s on an ''ad hoc'' basis, subsequently phased out, and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Living People
Purpose: Because living persons may suffer personal harm from inappropriate information, we should watch their articles carefully. By adding an article to this category, it marks them with a notice about sources whenever someone tries to edit them, to remind them of WP:BLP (biographies of living persons) policy that these articles must maintain a neutral point of view, maintain factual accuracy, and be properly sourced. Recent changes to these articles are listed on Special:RecentChangesLinked/Living people. Organization: This category should not be sub-categorized. Entries are generally sorted by family name In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give .... Maintenance: Individuals of advanced age (over 90), for whom there has been no new documentation in the last ten ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Iranian Reformists
The Reformists () are a political faction in Iran. Iran's "reform era" is sometimes said to have lasted from 1997 to 2005—the length of President Mohammad Khatami's two terms in office. The Council for Coordinating the Reforms Front is the main umbrella organization and coalition within the movement; however, there are reformist groups not aligned with the council, such as the Reformists Front. Masoud Pezeshkian, a reformist, was elected president following the 2024 Iranian presidential election, and was subsequently confirmed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on 28 July. Background Organizations The 2nd of Khordad Movement usually refers not only to the coalition of 18 groups and political parties of the reforms front but to anyone else who was a supporter of the 1997 reform programs of Khatami. The reforms front consists of several political parties, some of the most famous including the following: * Islamic Iran Participation Front: key figures are Mohammad Reza Kha ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Iranian Ayatollahs
Iranian () may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Iran ** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran ** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia ** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Other uses * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan-ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian languages, a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages * Iranian.com, also known as ''The Iranian'' and ''The Iranian Times'' See also * Persian (other) * Iranians (other) * Languages of Iran * Ethnicities in Iran * Demographics of Iran * Indo-Iranian languages The Indo-Iranian languages (also known as Indo-Iranic languages or collectively the Aryan languages) constitute the largest branch of the Indo-European language family. They include over 300 languages, spoken by around 1.7 billion speakers ... * Irani ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Washington Institute For Near East Policy
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), also known simply as The Washington Institute (TWI), is a pro-Israel American think tank based in Washington, D.C., focused on the foreign policy of the United States in the Near East. WINEP was established in 1985 with the support of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the funding of many AIPAC donors, in order to provide higher quality research than AIPAC's own publications. John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt described WINEP as "part of the core" of the Israel lobby in the United States. Background WINEP was founded in 1985 by Barbi Weinberg of Los Angeles, CA. Martin Indyk, an Australian-trained academic and former deputy director of research for AIPAC, was the first executive director. Indyk described the think tank as "friendly to Israel but doing credible research on the Middle East in a realistic and balanced way." The research was thus designed to be more independent and academic-quality. At th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Radio Farda
Radio Farda () is the Iranian branch of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) external broadcast service for providing "factual, objective and professional journalism" to its audiences. It broadcasts 24 hours a day in the Persian language from its headquarters in the district Hagibor of Prague, Czech Republic. Radio Farda first aired in December 2002. It broadcasts news on topics such as political, cultural, social, and art with an emphasis on Iran. Radio Farda's broadcasts have been continually blocked by Iranian authorities over the history of its programming. On March 15, 2025, the United States Agency for Global Media terminated grants to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and its subsidiaries following a directive from the Trump Administration. All staff were put on administrative leave and programming has largely or entirely been suspended. History Radio Farda was established in 2003 as a joint effort of RFE/RL and Voice of America (VOA). I ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations covering the majority of musical genres, as well as local radio stations covering local news, affairs, and interests. It also oversees online audio content. Of the national radio stations, BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, 2, BBC Radio 3, 3, BBC Radio 4, 4, and BBC Radio 5 Live, 5 Live are all available through analogue radio (Medium wave, MW or FM broadcasting, FM, also BBC Radio 4 broadcasts on longwave) as well as on DAB Digital Radio and BBC Sounds. The BBC Asian Network, Asian Network broadcasts on DAB and selected AM frequencies in the English Midlands. BBC Radio 1Xtra, BBC Radio 4 Extra, 4 Extra, BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, 5 Sports Extra, BBC Radio 6 Music, 6 Music and the BBC World Service, World Service broadcast only on DAB and BBC Sounds, w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mehdi Khalaji
Mehdi Khalaji (, born September 21, 1973) is an Iranian-American writer, scholar of Islamic studies, political analyst, and a former Shia cleric. He has been researching at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy since 2005, and is now a senior research fellow focusing on the politics of Iran and Shiite groups in the Middle East. He has frequently contributed to media outlets such as ''The Guardian'', BBC, ''The Washington Post'', and ''The New York Times''. Education and career A native from Qom, the center for Shi'a scholarship in Iran, Khalaji studied Islamic theology in Qom Seminary, and Philosophy in Tarbiat Modarres University. From 1986 to 2000, Khalaji trained in the seminaries of Qom, the traditional center of Iran's clerical establishment. There he studied theology and jurisprudence, earning a doctorate and thoroughly researched on modern intellectual and philosophical-political developments in Iran and the wider Islamic and Western worlds. In Qom, and later in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980) was the last List of monarchs of Iran, Shah of Iran, ruling from 1941 to 1979. He succeeded his father Reza Shah and ruled the Imperial State of Iran until he was overthrown by the Iranian Revolution, which abolished the Iranian monarchy to establish the present-day Islamic Republic of Iran. In 1967, he took the title (), and also held several others, including () and (). He was the second and last ruling monarch of the Pahlavi dynasty. His vision of the "Great Civilization" () led to his leadership over rapid industrial and military modernization, as well as economic and social reforms in Iran. During World War II, the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran forced the abdication of Reza Shah and succession of Mohammad Reza Shah. During his reign, the Anglo-Iranian Oil, British-owned oil industry was nationalized by the prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, who had support from Iran's national parliament to do so; however, Mo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hussein-Ali Montazeri
Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri ( ; 24 September 1922 – 19 December 2009) was an Iranian Shia Islamic theologian, Islamic democracy advocate, writer, and human rights activist. He was one of the leaders of the Iranian Revolution and one of the highest-ranking authorities in Shīʿite Islam. He was once the designated successor to the revolution's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini; they had a falling-out in 1989 over government policies that Montazeri claimed infringed on people's freedom and denied them their rights, especially after the 1988 mass execution of political prisoners. Montazeri spent his later years in Qom and remained politically influential in Iran but was placed in house arrest in 1997 for questioning "the unaccountable rule exercised by the supreme leader", Ali Khamenei, who succeeded Ruhollah Khomeini. He was known as the most knowledgeable senior Islamic scholar in Iran, a ''grand marja'' (religious authority) of Shia Islam, and was said to be one ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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 Imperial State of Iran by the Islamic Republic of Iran, as the monarchical government of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was superseded by the theocratic Ruhollah Khomeini, a religious cleric who had headed one of the rebel factions. The ousting of Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, formally marked the end of List of monarchs of Persia, Iran's historical monarchy. In 1953, the CIA- and MI6-backed 1953 Iranian coup d'état overthrew Iran’s democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, who had nationalized the country's oil industry to reclaim sovereignty from British control. The coup reinstalled Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as an absolute monarch and entrenched Iran as a client state of the U.S. and UK. Over the next 26 years, Pahlavi consolidated ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |