Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti

Infobox Writer
name = Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini Beheshti

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birthdate = October 24, 1928
birthplace = Isfahan, Iran
deathdate = death date and age|1981|06|28|1928|10|24
deathplace = Tehran, Iran
occupation = cleric, politician
Religion = Twelver Shi'a Islam
genre =
movement =
notableworks =
influences =
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Ayatollah Dr. Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini Beheshti ( _fa. محمد حسینی بهشتی), (October 24, 1928 - June 28, 1981) was an Iranian cleric, the secretary-general of the Islamic Republic Party, and the head of the Islamic Republic's judicial system. He was assassinated together with more than seventy members of the Islamic Republic party on June 28, 1981.

Beheshti was born in Isfahan and studied both at the University of Tehran and under Allameh Tabatabaei in Qom.

Between 1960 and 1965, he led the Islamic Center in Hamburg [http://www.islamic-centre-hamburg.de/] , where he was responsible for the spiritual leadership of religious Iranian students in Germany and Western Europe. In Hamburg, he also worked with Mohammad Khatami and was among his influences. Since the early 1960s, he was involved in activities against the monarchy and was arrested several times by the Shah's secret police, the SAVAK.

Following the Islamic Revolution, he became one of the original members of the Council of Revolution of Iran and soon its chairman. In the first post-revolutionary Iranian parliament, he led the Islamic Republic party together with Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. (He never campaigned for the parliament though, as he was already the head of Iran's Supreme Judicial System). He was also planning to run for the presidency in the first presidential elections, but withdrew after Ayatollah Khomeini told a delegation of Rafsanjani and Khamenei that he preferred non-clerics as presidents, which led to the Islamic Republic party's endorsement of first Jalaleddin Farsi and then, inevitably, Abolhassan Banisadr.

Beheshti died in terrorist attack on June 28, 1981, when a bomb exploded during a party conference (Hafte tir bombing). The bomb was planted by the Mujahideen al-Khalq terrorist organization who at that time were involved in a campaign of bombings and attacks against officials of the Islamic Republic. [ [http://www.baztab.com/news/30886.php Baztab News] ] .

References

External links

* [http://www.irib.ir/Ouriran/mashahir/mazhabi/beheshti/html/en/beheshti.htm Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting page about Ayatollah Beheshti]
*Interview [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N210BdAAjS0]