Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi (born 1953 in

Kerman Kerman (; ) is a city in the Central District (Kerman County), Central District of Kerman County, Kerman province, Kerman province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. History Kerman was founded as a def ...

) is an Iranian politician and was the former minister of science and technology in

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (born Mahmoud Sabbaghian on 28 October 1956) is an Iranian Iranian principlists, principlist and Iranian nationalism, nationalist politician who served as the sixth president of Iran from 2005 to 2013. He is currently a mem ...

. Zahedi was approved by Iran's parliament with the fewest supporting votes possible (supporters had only one vote more than opponents). He was elected as a Member of the Parliament in 2012 election. He was reelected in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. On 1 January 2017, he has announced that he would run for presidency in 2017 presidential election. His nomination was rejected by the

Guardian Council The Guardian Council (also called Council of Guardians or Constitutional Council, ) is an appointed and constitutionally mandated 12-member council that wields considerable power and influence in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The constitution ...

Academia

Zahedi received his PhD in Mathematics from Kerman University where he is currently a "full professor". He is the first graduate of a PhD in mathematics in Iran. Zahedi has 15 scientific articles in ISI with very few citations (most of them self citations). He repeatedly called himself "one of the greatest mathematicians of the time". With such a minor scientific achievement he was promoted to full professorship in 1999 (when he had only published 11 articles). Zahedi's profile claims he is a member of

New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS), originally founded as the Lyceum of Natural History in January 1817, is a nonprofit professional society based in New York City, with more than 20,000 members from 100 countries. It is the fourth-oldes ...

. An investigation by

BBC Persian BBC Persian () is the Persian language broadcast station and subsidiary of BBC World Service which conveys the latest political, social, economical and sport news relevant to Iran and the world. Its headquarters are in London, United Kingdom. Pe ...

in July 2009 debunked this claim. His profile also claims that he was named among the most prominent Mathematicians of the century by

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

for which there is no evidence found on

website.

Expulsion of university scientists

In 2006, the Ahmadinejad government systematically forced numerous Iranian scientists and University professors to resign or to retire. It has been referred to as a ''second cultural revolution''. The policy has been said to replace current professors with younger ones. Many University professors received letters indicating their early retirement unexpectedly. However many believe that the government's main goal is to replace Iranian scientists with fundamentalists and finally convert the universities into

Hawza A hawza () or ḥawzah ʿilmīyah () is the collective term (plural hawzat) for a ''madrasa'' (i.e. seminary) where Marja', Shi'a Muslim scholars are educated. The word ''ḥawzah'' is Arabic, and has been adopted into Persian as a loan word. ...

(traditional religious schools). Despite huge demonstrations and protests of Iranian students, Zahedi appointed several

mullah Mullah () is an honorific title for Islam, Muslim clergy and mosque Imam, leaders. The term is widely used in Iran and Afghanistan and is also used for a person who has higher education in Islamic theology and Sharia, sharia law. The title h ...

s with no academic degrees as

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

s of several Universities (the most prominent example being that of

Tehran University The University of Tehran (UT) or Tehran University (, ) is a public collegiate university in Iran, and the oldest and most prominent Iranian university located in Tehran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as ...

Expelling the politically active students

Zahedi has expelled dozens of politically active students and those who were working in internal newspaper of university by refusing to enroll them for the new academic year (Fall 2006). He first denied the existence of such students but recently he said that those students had criminal cases such as robbery and sexual harassment. This made the students very angry and they asked the MPs for his impeachment.

Ignoring scientific merit in appointments

Zahedi's appointments and dismissals at the Science, Research and Technology Ministry were not based on merit. University chancellors had been formerly appointed after consulting university professors. However, the situation changed as Zahedi become Iran's minister of science and the criterion of meritocracy has been ignored. Zahedi appointed Abbasali Amid Zanjani, a cleric with no academic degree, as the chancellor of Tehran University.

References

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