Ahmad Madani

Timsar
Ahmad Madani
Minister of National Defence
In office
22 February 1979 – 2 March 1979
Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan
Preceded by Jafar Shafaghat
Succeeded by Taghi Riahi
Governor of Khuzestan Province
In office
22 September 1979 – 2 January 1980
Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan
Preceded by Vacant
Succeeded by Mohammad Gharazi
Member-elect of the Iranian Parliament
In office
Credentials rejected in 1980[1]
Constituency Kerman
Personal details
Born July/August 1929
Kerman, Iran
Died 12 February 2006(2006-02-12) (aged 76)
Denver, Colorado, United States
Political party National Front of Iran
Military service
Allegiance Iran
Service/branch Navy
Years of service 1950–1972; 1979
Rank Commodore

Ahmad Madani (July/August 1929 – 12 February 2006) was an Iranian politician, Commander of Iranian Navy (1979), governor of the Khuzestan province (1979–80) and candidate in the first Iranian presidential election. Madani became a navy Commodore in 1970, but was removed in 1973. He later became a navy commander after the revolution and was the first ever Minister of Defence under the new regime. Madani was also elected to the first parliament from Kerman, but was not approved. He eventually fled to the United States in 1980.


Pre-Revolution

Ahmad Madani was born in 1929 in Tehran.

He grew up in Kerman before returning to Tehran to pursue university education. Madani studied law at the University of Tehran, before joining the Iranian Navy and moving to England to continue his education. In 1953, Madani reached the rank of Ensign in the navy, and in 1970 he reached the rank of Commodore.

Madani spent most of his service in Bandar Abbas and the Persian Gulf. He was dismissed from the navy in 1973 for his political activities, and until the 1979 revolution he taught political science and economics throughout various universities in Iran.

Post-Revolution

Interim government

After the revolution in 1979, Madani was named as Minister of Defence and a Commander of the Navy in Mehdi Bazargan's Interim government. However, after two months Madani was removed as the Minister of Defence. After this, per the request of Bazargan, Madani was the governor of Khuzestan.

Presidential candidate

Madani was a candidate in the first ever presidential election in Iranian history, which took place in January 1980. He finished in second place and received 2,224,554 or 15.71% of the vote. In this election, Madani finished behind Abolhassan Banisadr, but ahead of Hassan Habibi, Dariush Forouhar, Sadeq Tabatabaei, Kazem Sami, and Sadegh Ghotbzadeh. He finished first place in voting in provinces such as Kerman, Kurdistan, Sistan and Baluchistan, Hormozgan, and Zanjan.

Parliamentary elections

Madani was also a candidate in parliamentary elections of 1980, and was elected from Kerman, however he was not approved and was eventually replaced.

Exile and death

In 1980, Madani discovered that he was accused of communicating with the United States, and this decided to flee the country. Madani settled in the United States where he was the chairman of the National Front outside of Iran.

Madani died on 12 February 2006 due to cancer, in his home in Colorado.

References

  1. ↑ Baktiari, Bahman (1996). Parliamentary Politics in Revolutionary Iran: The Institutionalization of Factional Politics. University Press of Florida. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-8130-1461-6.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.