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Nasser Minachi

Nasser Minachi
Minister of Tourism
In office
22 February 1979 – 10 September 1980
Prime MinisterMahdi Bazargan
Preceded bySirous Amouzgar (acting)
Succeeded byAbbas Duzduzani
Personal details
Born1931
Tehran, Pahlavi Iran
Died25 January 2014(2014-01-25) (aged 83)
Tehran, Iran

Nasser Minachi (1931–25 January 2014) was an Iranian activist and founder of Hosseiniyeh Ershad, a modernist Islamic institution. He served as the minister of tourism and then the minister of information and publicity in the Interim Government of Iran after the regime change in 1979. He was also the minister of culture in the government during the presidency of Abolhassan Banisadr.

Career and activities

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Minachi was one of the bazaar leaders during the reign of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and cofounded the Hosseiniyeh Ershad, a nontraditional Islamic organization in Tehran.[1][2] He served as the caretaker of the institution until his death.[3] He was also an opposition leader at that time.[4] He had a moderate oppositional approach and was serving as the director of committee for the defense of human rights.[5] Just before the regime change in February 1979 Minachi was also spokesperson of the a group consisting of moderate Islamic nationalists led by Mahdi Bazargan.[6]

He was appointed tourism minister to the interim government of Mahdi Bazargan in February 1979.[7] He was also made the minister of information and publicity in the same cabinet on 22 February that year.[8] He was also a member of the revolutionary council until November 1979.[9]

The occupiers of the US embassy in Tehran called for Minachi's arrest while he was serving as information minister.[4][10] They accused Minachi of being a CIA agent.[9] Minachi was eventually arrested in his home by the militants in early February 1980.[11] He was freed soon with the intervention of Bazargan.[9]

Later Minachi became the minister of culture and national guidance under the presidency of Abolhassan Banisadr.[4]

Death

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Minachi died of heart failure on 25 January 2014 in Tehran.[3] His memorial service was held in the Hosseiniyeh Ershad mosque.[3]

References

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  1. ^ Gholam Reza Afkhami (2008). The Life and Times of the Shah. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. p. 445. ISBN 978-0-520-94216-5.
  2. ^ Siavush Randjbar-Daemi (2013). "Building the Islamic State: The Draft Constitution of 1979 Reconsidered". Iranian Studies. 46 (4): 641–663. doi:10.1080/00210862.2013.784519. S2CID 143669454.
  3. ^ a b c "Nasser Minachi passed away". The Iran Project. Tehran. IRNA. 25 January 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  4. ^ a b c Barry Rubin (1981). Paved with Good Intentions: The American Experience In Iran. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780140059649.
  5. ^ Hooshmand Mirfakhraei (1984). The Imperial Iranian armed forces and the revolution of 1978-1979 (PhD thesis). State University of New York at Buffalo. p. 294. OCLC 12037858. ProQuest 303350420.
  6. ^ Darioush Bayandor (2019). The Shah, the Islamic Revolution and the United States. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 272–273. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-96119-4. ISBN 978-3-319-96118-7. S2CID 158585193.
  7. ^ Mir M. Hosseini. "5 February 1979 A.D.: Bazargan Becomes Prime Minister". Fouman. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
  8. ^ "Chronology February 16, 1979-May 15, 1979". The Middle East Journal. 33 (3): 355. Summer 1979. JSTOR 4325879.
  9. ^ a b c Eric Rouleau (1980). "Khomenei's Iran". Foreign Affairs. 59 (1): 1–20. doi:10.2307/20040651. JSTOR 20040651.
  10. ^ "New stirrings in Iran about US hostages, Shah's status". The Christian Science Monitor. 7 February 1980. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  11. ^ "Militants arrest Iranian minister". Bangor Daily News. 7 February 1980. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
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