Ata'ollah Mohajerani

Education

Mohajerani received his bachelor's degree in history from University of Isfahan, his master's degree in history and Iranian culture from Shiraz University and his PhD in history from Tarbiat Modares University.

Career

Mohajerani served as Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance of Iran under President Mohammad Khatami until 2000 when he was resigned from office for alleged permissiveness."

Later, he became the Parliamentary Deputy to the Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi, when he started to write the weekly column Naghd-e Haal in the Ettela'at newspaper, and then Vice President of Parliamentary Affairs under Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. As minister of culture and Islamic guidance, he officially announced and pursued a policy of "leniency" (Persian: تساهل و تسامح‎‎) towards the field of culture and arts and removed many restrictions. He earned the wrath of conservatives by allowing hundreds of new publications to start up, the release of fifty-some Persian pop music albums, and the screening of the controversial movie Two Women.

Why does the Quran carry the harshest criticism of the Prophet? . It was not in the nature of the Prophet to stifle discussion of opposing points of view. In April 2000, however, he resigned due to heavy criticisms by the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, because of his "liberal" policies.

He also served as the speaker of the cabinet during that time. He later became the president of the Iranian International Centre for Dialogue among Civilizations, but resigned from the post. Mohajerani participated in the funeral and burial of former revolutionary Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan, when few Iranian officials dared doing so because of Bazargan's very unpopular status among the higher ranks of the Islamic Republic government.

Works

Of the books Mohajerani has written, most famous are a "learned critique" of the Salman Rushdie novel Satanic Verses, a book in support of Ferdowsi (and against attacks by Ahmad Shamlou), and a book on Zaynab bint Ali's role in and after Aashurah. If we answer violence with violence, we are no different from them.

Achievements

• Mohajerani's political career began in 1980 after the Iranian Revolution, when he won the first round of the parliamentary elections to become a representative of Shiraz and the youngest member of the majlis. He was a member and a founder of Executives of Construction Party, which is considered a backer of Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Views

He survived an impeachment by the 5th Majlis which was dominated by the conservatives in part with a "daring" speech defending the principle of freedom of speech in Islamic rather than Western terms.