Shamseddin Amir-Alai (1900–August 1994) was an Iranian politician who served as both

interior minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...

and justice minister in the first cabinet of

Mohammad Mosaddegh Mohammad Mosaddegh (, ; 16 June 1882 – 5 March 1967) was an Iranian politician, author, and lawyer who served as the 30th Prime Minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953, elected by the 1950 Iranian legislative election, 16th Majlis. He was a membe ...

. He also held other government and diplomatic posts.

Early life and education

Amir-Alai was born in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

in 1900. His father was Ali Akbar Khan Najd al Saltanah. He received a bachelor's degree in finance and administration from a European university. In 1964 he obtained his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in political science in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Career and activities

Following his return to Iran Amir-Alai worked at the Ministry of Post and then, at the

Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

. In the latter he served as a judge. Later he worked at the Ministry of Agriculture as a senior official. In February 1946 he was named as the minister of agriculture after serving as acting minister in the

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 * Filin ...

led by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Ahmad Qavam Ahmad Qavam (2 January 1873 – 23 July 1955; ), also known as Qavam os-Saltaneh (), was an Iranian politician who served as Prime Minister of Iran five times. Early life Qavam was born in 1873 to the prominent Iranian Qavam family. His un ...

. Amir-Alai joined the National Front established by Mohammad Mosaddegh and was one of the individuals who signed the Charter of the Front in February 1949. Amir-Alai held several

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

positions during Mossadegh's premiership. He was the minister of interior in the first cabinet of Mosaddegh and the minister of justice in his second cabinet. Then he was appointed by Mosaddegh as the ambassador of Iran to

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. At the beginning of 1950s he was appointed governor of Gilan during the premiership of Ali Razmara. Razmara's successor

Hossein Ala' Hosein Alā (; 13 December 1881 – 13 July 1964) was a prominent Iranian diplomat and statesman who held several key positions during the early 20th century, including two terms as Prime Minister. Background He was born in 1881 in Tehran and s ...

named Amir-Alai as minister of justice in March 1951. In May 1955 Amir-Alai and four other political figures, including

Bagher Kazemi Sayyed Bagher Khan Muhazab Al Dawleh Kazemi also known as Bagher Kazemi (; 10 February 1892–10 November 1977), was an Iranian politician, diplomat and minister. He served as Iran's ambassador to several countries, including France, Turkey and Afg ...

, who were all close to Mosaddegh were arrested on the orders of the military governor of Tehran,

Teymur Bakhtiar Teymur Bakhtiar (; 1914 – 12 August 1970) was an Iranian military officer and intelligence chief who was the founder and head of SAVAK from 1956 to 1961 when he was dismissed by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In 1970, he was assassinated by SAVAK agen ...

. Following the

regime change Regime change is the partly forcible or coercive replacement of one government regime with another. Regime change may replace all or part of the state's most critical leadership system, administrative apparatus, or bureaucracy. Regime change may ...

in Iran in 1979 Amir-Alai was appointed ambassador of Iran to France, but he resigned from the post in 1980 due to his conflict with the foreign minister,

Sadegh Ghotbzadeh Sadegh Ghotbzadeh (, 24 February 1936 – 15 September 1982) was an Iranian politician who served as a close aide of Ayatollah Khomeini during his 1978 exile in France and was foreign minister (30 November 1979 – August 1980) during the Ir ...

. Later Amir-Alai became an opposition leader.

Death and funeral

Amir-Alai died in a car accident outside his home in August 1994 which is considered by the

Iranian opposition The Iranian opposition consists of groups and individuals in Iran who oppose the government of the Islamic Republic since its foundation in 1979. These groups are ideologically diverse, ranging from monarchists to supporters of parliamentary dem ...

as mysterious. His funeral ceremony was held on 11 August 1994, and he was buried in Behesht e Zahra cemetery. During his funeral another leading opposition figure,

Dariush Forouhar Dariush Forouhar (; 18 August 1928 – 22 November 1998) was an Iranian pan-Iranist politician and leader of Nation Party of Iran. In 1998, he and his wife, Parvaneh Forouhar, were stabbed to death in their home. They were among the victims of ...

, was abducted by the Iranian intelligence personnel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amir Alai, Shamseddin 20th-century Iranian diplomats 20th-century Iranian politicians 1900 births 1994 deaths Ambassadors of Iran to Belgium Ambassadors of Iran to France Burials at Behesht-e Zahra Interior ministers of Iran Iranian dissidents Iranian governors Iranian prisoners and detainees Ministers of justice of Iran National Front (Iran) politicians Politicians from Tehran Road incident deaths in Iran