Abdollah Nouri

Abdollah Nouri
Chairman of City Council of Tehran
In office
29 April 1999 – 11 September 1999
Deputy Saeed Hajjarian
Succeeded by Abbas Douzdouzani
Vice President of Iran
for Development and Social Affairs[1]
In office
21 June 1998 – 29 April 1999
President Mohammad Khatami
Minister of the Interior
In office
15 August 1997 – 21 June 1998
President Mohammad Khatami
Preceded by Ali Mohammad Besharati
Succeeded by Mostafa Tajzadeh (acting)
In office
3 August 1989 – 13 December 1993
President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Preceded by Ali Akbar Mohtashamipur
Succeeded by Ali Mohammad Besharati
Member of the Parliament of Iran
In office
28 May 1996 – 14 August 1997
Constituency Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat and Eslamshahr
Majority 448,874 (31.3%)[2]
In office
28 May 1984 – 28 May 1988
Constituency Isfahan
Majority 102,248 (64.8%)
Personal details
Born 1950 (age 67–68)
Isfahan, Iran
Political party Association of Combatant Clerics
Other political
affiliations		 Executives of Construction Party (affiliate non-member)
Relatives Alireza Noori (brother)
Military service
Service/branch Revolutionary Guards
Years of service 1989
Commands Supreme leader's representative

Abdollah Noori (Persian: عبدالله نوری‎  pronunciation ) is an Iranian cleric and reformist politician. Despite his "long history of service to the Islamic Republic," he became the most senior Islamic politician to be sentenced to prison since the Iranian Revolution when he was sentenced to five years in prison for political and religious dissent in 1999.[3] He has been called the "bête noire" of Islamic conservatives in Iran.[4]

Noori is a senior member of Association of Combatant Clerics,[5] and also close ally of the Executives of Construction Party.[6][7]

Career

Abdollah Nouri was called a "trusted lieutenant" of Ayatollah Khomeini who was "the religious guide to the Revolutionary Guards early in the revolution."[8] Khomeini appointed him as his representative to many other important organisations as well.[3] Khomeini's successor, supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also appointed him a member "of a powerful council which advises him on major policies". However Abdollah Nouri also supported dissident cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, who was placed under house arrest in 1997 for questioning the authority of Ayatollah Khamenei.[3]

Nouri served as minister of interior for four years in then President Hashemi Rafsanjani's first term cabinet. He also served as the minister of interior in Mohammad Khatami's first term cabinet until his impeachment by the conservative-controlled 5th Majlis for his "defence of political and social freedoms." Following his impeachment, Khatami brought Abdullah Nouri back to his cabinet as a vice-president.[3] He was "generally seen as the most outspoken reformist" in Khatami's cabinet.[3]

In February 1999, he stood down from this post to take part in the municipal elections in February and was elected as the chief of the City Council of Tehran.

He resigned from the Council in order to participate in the sixth parliamentary election. He founded a newspaper and named it Khordad, named after the victory of President Khatami on the 2nd of Khordad, 1376 by the Iranian calendar, equivalent to 23 May 1997. His newspaper advocated "freedom of expression, human rights and a modern and democratic Islam."[3]

Trial

Based on the contents of this newspaper, Nouri was accused of insulting Islamic values by pushing for democratic reforms, dishonoring Imam Ruhollah Khomeini's memory by questioning the authority of the Supreme Leader. According to a Western journalist, another explanation for his prosecution was that Nouri was very popular in Tehran and "the odds on favorite to become Speaker of Parliament in the February 2000 Parliamentary election," something imprisonment would prevent.[8]

He was tried by the Special Clerical Court in Iran and made an "outspoken and aggressive defence during his trial",[3] refusing to accept the authority of this court, which he saw as unconstitutional.

In November 1999, he was convicted of insulting Ayatollah Khomeini, publishing anti-religious materials, disturbing public opinion, insulting officials, advocating links with the United States and was sentenced to five years in jail.[9][10]

Readers of the Iranian voted him the most significant Iranian personality of 1999.[11]

Release

Nouri was released from prison on 5 November 2002.[12] He was released because his brother Alireza Noori, a member of parliament at the time, was killed in an accident. Mr. Noori was freed from Evin Prison when Mehdi Karroubi, speaker of the Majlis at the time, wrote a letter to the Supreme Leader and asked him to free Noori as his father was suffering from the loss of his other son.

Abdollah Nouri was mentioned as a possible candidate in the 2009 presidential election,[4] but did not run.

Analysis

He considered as one of the leading pragmatists among reformers. though They were aligned with Khomeini’s doctrines.[13]

References

  1. ↑ David Lea (2001), A Political Chronology of the Middle East, Psychology Press, p. 62, ISBN 9781857431155
  2. ↑ Members Iranian Parliament.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Profile of Abdollah Nouri. BBC News
  4. 1 2 Abdollah Nouri’s Two Conditions for Candidacy
  5. ↑ Antoine, Olivier; Sfeir, Roy (2007), The Columbia World Dictionary of Islamism, Columbia University Press, p. 153, ISBN 9780231146401
  6. ↑ Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Iran: The National Kargozaran-Sazandegi Party; political view, its leaders, branches, and participation in any election in Iran (1998), 19 February 2002, IRN38586.E, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df4be498.html [accessed 19 March 2017]
  7. ↑ Muhammad Sahimi (12 May 2009). "The Political Groups". Tehran Bureau. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  8. 1 2 Sciolino, Elaine Persian Mirrors: the Elusive Face of Irans, Free Press, 2000, 2005 p. 307-8
  9. ↑ Iran: Abdollah Nouri, prisoner of conscience
  10. ↑ Shea, Nina (26 January 2009). ""Insulting Islam": One Way Street in the Wrong Direction". Hudson Institute. Archived from the original on 14 June 2009. Retrieved 16 July 2009.
  11. ↑ Iran's Galileo
  12. ↑ "Iran: Abdollah Nouri's release welcomed, but all prisoners of conscience must also be released". Amnesty International. n.d. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
  13. ↑ David Menashri (2001). post revolutionary politics In iran. Frank Cass. p. 50.
Government offices
Preceded by
Ali Akbar Mohtashami-Pur		 Interior minister of Iran
1989–1993		 Succeeded by
Ali Mohammad Besharati
Preceded by
Ali Mohammad Besharati		 Interior minister of Iran
1997–1998		 Succeeded by
Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari
Civic offices
New title
Council founded
 Chairman of City Council of Tehran
1999		 Succeeded by
Abbas Douzdouzani
Assembly seats
Unknown Parliamentary leader of reformists
1996–1997		 Unknown
Next known title holder:
Ali Akbar Mohtashamipur
as Head of "2nd of Khordad fraction"
Honorary titles
New title Most-voted Councilor of Tehran
1999		 Succeeded by
Mehdi Chamran
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