Ali Kordan

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office = Iranian Minister of the Interior
term_start = August 12, 2008
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office2 = Deputy oil minister
term_start2 = October, 2007
term_end2 = August 12, 2008
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Ali Kordan (identified as EvazAli Kordan by his original birth certificate)Fact|date=September 2008 is an Iranian conservative politician and current interior minister of Iran. He was approved for this position as of August 5, 2008 by the Iranian Parliament. Kordan is a former deputy oil minister with previous service in the judiciary and the Revolutionary Guards. [cite news
url=http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h4Z2N8unisuEf3BfdA5emx9Qt28Q
title=Iran parliament approves new reshuffle
publisher=Agence France-Presse
date=2008-08-05
accessdate=2008-08-10]

Career

Kordan was appointed deputy oil minister in around October 2007. He had turned down the offer of the same position in 2006.cite web
author=Amanat, Reza
url=http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=51325
title=Ali Kordan Appointed Iranian Deputy Oil Minister
date= 2007-10-11
language=English]

He had previously served as deputy labour minister, president of Iran's Technical and Vocational Organization, deputy head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) for provincial and parliamentary affairs, deputy head of IRIB for administrative and financial affairs, and deputy minister for culture and Islamic guidance for administrative and financial affairs.

Degree controversy

Kordan claimed to have an honorary doctorate in law from Oxford University. However his academic qualifications and doctorate have been widely questioned by Iranian parliament members and the media. [cite news
url=http://www.tehrantimes.com/Index_view.asp?code=174684
title=Majlis Confirms 3 Ministers
publisher=Tehran Times
date=2008-08-06
accessdate=2008-08-10] Immediately following his appointment as the Interior Minister, the Ministry threatened the media in an official announcement, urging them to avoid writing about Kordan's academic degree.

Kordan later released a copy of his degree showing an Honorary Doctorate of Law Degree that was conferred on him in June 2000 and was under-signed by three Oxford University professors. The certificate was clumsily worded and punctuated, saying that Kordan was granted the degree "to be benefitted from its scientific privileges", and "entitled" was spelt "intitled". The spelling of "entitle" as "intitle" in the degree was used by some commentators as being indicative of the degree being bogus (i.e. issued by a diploma mill), [cite news
url=http://www.asriran.com/view.php?id=49649
title=Many obvious errors in Kordan's Oxford honorary doctorate certificate
date=2008-08-10
accessdate=2008-08-10
publisher=Asr Iran
language=Persian] but the word "intitle" is an obsolete spelling of "entitle". [This fact is recorded both by the The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (5th edition, 2002), and the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edition, 2004). The latter dictionary provides numerous examples in which the word "intitle" is used in the meaning of "entitle", such as "With how much Justice it is intitled to such a Name." (1695), or "A higher rank in the temple of fame than either his talents or performances intitle him to hold." (1769).]

Responding to an inquiry by Alef news agency, on August 11 2008 Oxford University denied it had awarded Kordan an honorary doctorate of law or any other degree from the university. The University of Oxford published an official statement on its website that they have no record of Mr Ali Kordan receiving an honorary doctorate or any other degree from the University cite news
url=http://www.alef.ir/content/view/30946/
title=Statement from the University of Oxford
date=2008-08-11
accessdate=2008-08-11
publisher=Alef
language=Persian] It noted that none of the professors whose alleged signatures were on the certificate were working in the field of law, and none of them would sign degree certificates.cite news
url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26182876/
title=Iranian minister's Oxford degree a fake
publisher=MSNBC
language=English
date=2008-08-13] [cite news
url=http://radiozamaaneh.com/news/2008/08/post_5920.html
title=The Ministry of Interior: Skepticism about Kordan's degree is forbidden
date=2008-08-08
accessdate=2008-08-10
publisher=Radio Zamaneh
language=Persian] [cite news
url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/story/2008/08/080811_mg-kordan.shtml
title=The parliament investigates the authenticity of Kordan's degree
date=2008-08-011
accessdate=2008-08-11
publisher=BBC Persian
language=Persian] As a result, chairman of Iranian parliament Ali Larijani initiated an investigation into the validity of Kordan's degree. [cite news
url=http://www2.irna.ir/fa/news/view/menu-151/8705218059221312.htm
title= به دستور لاريجاني مجلس در مورد اصالت مدرك تحصيلي وزير كشور تحقيق مي‌كند
language=Persian
date=2008-08-11
accessdate=2008-08-12
publisher=IRNA]

On August 12, 2008 President Ahmadinejad appointed Mr Ali Kordan as the Minister of Interior. It was reported that Alef News Website (Alef.ir), which was pursuing the authenticity of the alleged "certificate", had been blocked by the Iranian "authorities". [cite news
url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2549125/Iranian-minister-exposed-with-fake-Oxford-degree.html
title=Iranian minister exposed with fake Oxford degree
date=2008-08-13
accessdate=2008-08-13
publisher=The Daily Telegraph]

On August 15, 2008 University of Oxford published their statement about Mr. Ali Kordan on their web page stating that "The University of Oxford has no record of Mr Ali Kordan receiving an honorary doctorate or any other degree from the University.".cite news
url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2008/080815.html
title=Statement: Mr Ali Kordan
date=2008-08-15
accessdate=2008-08-17
publisher=The University of Oxford] This statement confirmed their earlier reply to Alef website.

As of August 27, 2008, The Ministary of Science, Research and Technology of the Islamic Republic denies announcing any statement on Kordan's Doctorate Degree.".cite news
url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2008/080815.html
title=Statement: Mr Ali Kordan
date=2008-08-15
accessdate=2008-08-17
publisher=The University of Oxford]

In a letter to the president on September 27, 2008, Ali Kordan has admitted to holding a fake Oxford University degree which he thought was valid, coming clean after weeks of controversy. In the letter, he said he had pressed charges against the person who claimed to represent Oxford University in Tehran as soon as he realised his degree was fake. "Over the past eight years, I never doubted the validity of the degree and that's why I presented it in the course of the confidence vote," Kordan wrote in his letter to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Kordan said his search for the intermediary had proven fruitless and that he had filed a complaint against the unnamed person on September 14. cite news
url=http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080930/world/iran_politics_education_3
title=Iran minister admits holding fake Oxford degree
date=2008-09-27
accessdate=2008-09-30
publisher=Yahoo News]

Moral charges

Kordan is believed to have been arrested in 1978 after he was accused of seducing a girl with false marriage promise and he was jailed for more than two months. However he was released after the revolution. [cite news
url=http://www.roozonline.com/archives/2008/08/post_8726.php
title= سوابق اخلاقي
date=2008-08-14
accessdate=2008-08-14
publisher=Rooz online] [cite news
url=http://www.peykeiran.com/iran_news_body.aspx?ID=52649
title= تصویر سند بازداشت عوض علی کردان به اتهام ازاله بکارت
language=Persian
date=2008-08-18
accessdate=2008-08-18
publisher=Peykeiran]

Financial corruption

During his post as the deputy head of IRIB in financial affairs, Ali Kordan was accused of a high profile financial corruption (525 billion Tomans). However the Judiciary system did not charge him after a long investigation.Fact|date=August 2008. Also Kayhan newspaper published an article accusing Kordan of his corruption concerning "The Crescent file".

References

ee also

*Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

External links

* Official statement of University of Oxford, August 15, 2008: [http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2008/080815.html Statement: Mr Ali Kordan] .
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/aug/13/ali.kordan.oxford Robert Tait, "Iranian minister flaunts bogus Oxford degree", The Guardian, Wednesday, August 13, 2008] .
Note: The documents referred to in this article can be viewed on : [http://www.alef.ir/content/view/30946/ this page of "Alef" News Website] .
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2549125/Iranian-minister-exposed-with-fake-Oxford-degree.html "Iranian minister exposed with fake Oxford degree", Telegraph, 13 August 2008] .
Note: The blocking of the "Alef" News Website, mentioned in both this report and that by Robert Tait in The Guardian, must have been a temporary measure; this Website is not at present accessible.
* [http://www.roozonline.com/english/archives/2008/08/one_degree_twenty_errors.html "One Degree, Twenty Errors – by Rooz, an Iranian underground news and opinion website"]
*FOX News: [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,403281,00.html "Iranian Interior Minister's Oxford Degree Apparently Fake, Riddled With Spelling Errors"]
* [http://www.irannewsagency.com/index.php?news=11275 Alan Cowey in interview with Iran News Agency (INA)] (in Persian)

Persondata
NAME= Kordan, Ali
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Iranian politician
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