Seyyed Zia'eddin Tabatabaee

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For other uses, see Tabatabaei (disambiguation).

Seyyed Zia'eddin Tabatabaee (1888 – August 29, 1969)(Persian: سید ضیاءالدین طباطبایی) was an Iranian politician and the Prime Minister of Iran(Persia) from February to May 1921 under Ahmad Shah, the last Shah of the Qajar dynasty.

Born in Shiraz, Tabatabaee came to power in a coup d'état with the help of Reza Khan Mirpanj, who later became the Shah of Persia (which then came to be formally recognized as Iran by the international community), as Reza Shah Pahlavi.

When Tabatabaee became prime minister, he was 33 years old. His career did have an early start however. In Shiraz, he first opened a newspaper called Banāy-i Islam (Foundations of Islam), followed by the newspaper Ra'd (Thunder) at the age of 23. After Ra'd was shut down by the authorities, he then published another newspaper called Bargh (Lightning), and became active in the Persian Constitutional Revolution.

His political tendencies were decidedly pro-British however. So much so, that even after his political career was over in Iran and sent into exile in Palestine, he was to be hired as senior consultant by the government of Afghanistan with Britain's backing. Tehran's government vehemently objected to this move, leading Kabul to back down on the initiative.

Tabatabaee died at the age of 80 by a heart attack in Tehran. He was buried in Ray.

Sometime after his death, the ownership of Tabatabaee's house was transferred over to SAVAK and was then converted into what is today known as Evin Prison, the main prison where political prisoners are kept, both before the Iranian Revolution and afterwards.

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The following reference was used for the above writing: "Iran in the last 3 Centuries" by Alireza Avsati. Published Tehran, 2003. Vol1 ISBN 964-93406-6-1 Vol2 ISBN 964-93406-5-3