Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha | |
|---|---|
محمد موسوی خوئینیها | |
 | |
| President ofCenter for Strategic Research | |
| In office 1989–1992 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Hassan Rouhani |
| Attorney-General of Iran | |
| In office 1985–1989 | |
| Appointed by | Abdul-Karim Mousavi Ardebili |
| Preceded by | Yousef Saanei |
| Succeeded by | Mohammad Reyshahri |
| First Deputy of the Parliament of Iran | |
| In office 15 July 1981 – 19 July 1982 | |
| Preceded by | Ali-Akbar Parvaresh |
| Succeeded by | Mohammad Yazdi |
| Member of the Parliament of Iran | |
| In office 28 May 1980 – 28 May 1984 | |
| Constituency | Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat and Eslamshahr |
| Majority | 1,248,391 (58%) |
| Member of the Assembly of Experts | |
| In office 15 August 1983 – 21 February 1991 | |
| Constituency | Tehran province |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1945 (age 79–80)[1] |
| Political party | Association of Combatant Clerics |
Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha (Persian:محمد موسوی خوئینیها) (born 1945)[1] is anIranian cleric and secretary general of the reformistAssociation of Combatant Clerics. He was the founder of the now defunctSalam and was a member of theExpediency Discernment Council.
Khoeiniha was born inQazvin,Imperial State of Iran, in 1945.[1] However, Mohammad Sahimi gives his birth year as 1938.[2] He moved toQom to study religion in 1961.[2] There he was educated by Ayatollah Seyyed Mostafa Mohaqiq Damad, and Grand Ayatollahs, includingMohammad Ali Araki andHossein Ali Montazeri.[2] In 1966, he moved toNajaf,Iraq, and continued his studies under the guidance ofAyatollah Khomenei.[2] His stay in Najaf lasted brief and he returned to Iran in 1967.[2] In 1977, he was arrested bySAVAK.[2] Although he was sentenced to fifteen years in jail, he was freed in the fall of 1978 due to unrest in the country.[2]
Followingthe 1979 revolution he became one of the aides of Ayatollah Khomenei.[2] He was named Khomenei's representative at the Iran's Council of National Radio and TV but lost that post after hostage taking opponentBani Sadr became president and engineered his resignation.[2][3] He was the spiritual leader of theMuslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line who led thehostage taking of American embassy staff on 4 November 1979.[4] He was asked by Ayatollah Khomeini to "supervise" the students during the incident, thus giving them legitimacy.[5]
He is reported to have held the post of deputy speaker of the Majles in the early 1980s.[6] He was appointed by Khomeneiprosecutor general of Iran, replacingAyatollah Yousef Sanei in the post in the mid-1980s.[2] Then Khoeiniha was made a member of the Supreme Judicial Council and also, ofthe Expediency Council.[2] In 1989, he was appointed by Khomenei as his representative in the constitution assembly that was formed to review the constitution.[2]
He is reported to have been "considerably to the left of the conservative mullah establishment" and also have had a less orthodox interpretive take on Koranic doctrine than them.[7] Khoeniha remains a staunch defender of the embassy takeover, and still keeps "a four-drawer metal filing cabinet with a plate saying 'Property of the General Services Administration,`" in his office, a souvenir taken from the embassy.[8]
Khoeiniha and other "left-wing ... veteran revolutionary mullahs" from the Assembly of Militant Clerics foundedSalam in 1991, after the Assembly members were not only banned by the conservativeGuardian Council from running for theAssembly of Experts but could find no newspaper even willing to print that news and their protest. Despite its limited circulation and focus on influencing policy, the paper became very popular and helped elect reformistMuhammad Khatami president in 1997.[9]
Salam was banned on 7 July 1999 for releasing "an alleged secret memo by a former intelligence agent, urging authorities to tighten restrictions on the press". This "triggeringstudent demonstrations of a magnitude not seen since the 1979 revolution."[10]
On 25 July 1999 theSpecial Clerical Court convicted Khoeiniha asSalam's publisher "of defamation and spreading false information in connection with the alleged memo". He was sentenced to three years in prison and a lashing. However, the court suspended this sentence and reduced his sentence to a fine of 23 million rials (US$13,000),[10] "because of his sterling revolutionary credentials".[8] Less than two weeks later the Clergy court "imposed a five-year ban onSalam and banned Musavi-Khoeiniha from practicing journalism for three years". The court ruled that the journalist was "guilty of disseminating untruthful and distorted news aimed at harming public opinion."[10]
Until 2006, Khoeiniha was not active. He became the leader ofthe Association of Combatant Clerics whenMehdi Karroubi left the party to establish another one.[2]
Khomeini had been reassured by Mohammed Khoeniha, a popular Tehran cleric who was students' 'spiritual leader', that the hostage-takers were devout Muslims, unlike the left-wing militants who had occupied the embassy the previous February.)
Having backed the occupation, and realizing the West had no clear-cut strategy for ending the crisis, Khomeini approved the appointment of Mohammed Khoeniha, on his son Ahmad's recommendation, to supervise the students. Khoeniha gave the protest legitimacy as it was now seen to have Khomeini's personal representative guiding events.
| Assembly seats | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | 1st Vice Speaker of Parliament of Iran 1981–1982 | Succeeded by |
| Unknown | 2nd Vice Speaker of Parliament of Iran 1980–1981 1983–1984 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Succeeded by | |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Secretary-General of theAssociation of Combatant Clerics 2005–present | Incumbent |
