Ahmad Masjed-Jamei

Ahmad Masjed-Jamei is an Iranian reformist politician and academic who was chairman of City Council of Tehran from 3 September 2013 until 3 September 2014. He served as Culture Minister under President Mohammad Khatami from 2000 to 2005. He was elected a Tehran City Councillor in 2006 and was reelected in 2013.

Career

Culture Minister

Jamei became culture minister when Khatami's first minister, Ata'ollah Mohajerani, was forced to resign following criticism by conservatives for "eroding moral standards".^[1] Jamei previously served as deputy culture minister.

As culture minister he promoted freedom of the press, saying it helps to prevent the accumulation of "negative anxieties" in society.^[2] However his efforts were undermined by the judiciary which was controlled by the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, which ordered the closure of over 100 newspapers during Jamei's tenure as culture minister ^[3] Jamei protested against the closure of newspapers and arrest of journalists without effect.^[4]

Dialogue among civilizations

Following the election Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as President in the Iranian presidential election of 2005, Jamei was appointed managing director of the International Center for Dialogue Among Civilizations, an organization founded by Khatami.^[5]

Election as City Council chairman

After 2013 local election, he was nominated as chairman of City Council of Tehran by Reformists. Mohsen Hashemi Rafsanjani was also Reformists' nominee for Mayor of Tehran. On 3 September 2013, Masjed-Jamei was elected as chairman by 16 out of 31 votes and succeeded Mehdi Chamran in the post.^[6]

References

Cabinet of President Mohammad Khatami (1997–2005)   Cabinet Minister of Foreign Affairs Kamal Kharrazi (1997–2005) Minister of Agriculture** Issa Kalantari (1997–2000) Minister of Jihad of Construction** Mohammad Saeedikia (1997–2000) Ministry of Jihad of Agriculture** Mahmoud Hojjati (2000–2005) Minister of Post, Telegraph and Telephone Mohammad Reza Aref (1997–2000) Ahmad Motamedi (2000–2005) Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Hossein Kamali (1997–2001) Safdar Hosseini (2001–2004) Nasser Khaleghi (2004–2005) Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Attaollah Mohajerani (1997–2000) Ahmad Masjed-Jamei (2000–2005) Minister of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics Ali Shamkhani (1997–2005) Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Hossein Namazi (1997–2001) Tahmasb Mazaheri (2001–2004) Safdar Hosseini (2004–2005) Minister of Education Hossein Mozaffar (1997–2001) Morteza Haji (2001–2005) Minister of Energy Habibolah Bitaraf (1997–2005) Minister of Health and Medical Education Mohammad Farhadi (1997–2001) Masoud Pezeshkian (2001–2005) Minister of Mines and Metals*** Eshaq Jahangiri (1997–2000) Minister of Industries*** Gholamreza Shafeiee (1997–2000) Minister of Industries and Mines*** Eshaq Jahangiri (2000–2005) Minister of Intelligence Ghorbanali Dorri Najafabadi (1997–1998) Ali Younesi (1998–2005) Minister of Interior Abdollah Nouri (1997–1998) Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari (1998–2005) Minister of Justice Mohammad Ismaeil Shooshtari (1997–2005) Minister of Petroleum Bijan Namdar Zanganeh (1997–2005) Minister of Roads and Transportation Mahmoud Hojatti (1997–2001) Rahman Dadman (2001) Ahmad Khorram (2001–2004) Mohammad Rahmati (2004–2005) Commerce Mohammad Shariatmadar (1997–2005) Minister of Science, Research and Technology Mostafa Moeen (1997–2003) Jafar Towfighi (2003–2005) Minister of Welfare and Social Security**** Mohammad Hossein Sharifzadegan (2004–2005) Ministry of Cooperatives Morteza Haji (1997–2001) Ali Soufi (2001–2005) Ministry of Housing and Urban Development Ali Abdolalizadeh (1997–2005)   Cabinet-level First Vice President Hassan Habibi (1997–2001) Mohammad Reza Aref (2001–2005) Chief of Staff Mohammad-Ali Abtahi (1997–2001) Ali Khatami (2001–2005) Vice President and Head of Atomic Energy Organization Gholam Reza Aghazadeh (1997–2005) Vice President and Head of Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Tourism Organization Mohammad Beheshti Shirazi (1997–2003) Hossein Marashi (2003–2005) Vice President and Head of Environmental Protection Organization Masoumeh Ebtekar (1997–2005) Vice President and Head of Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs Hossein Dehghan (2002–2005) Vice President and Head of Management and Planning Organization of Iran Mohammad-Ali Najafi (1997–2000) Mohammad Reza Aref (2000–2001) Mohammad Sattarifar (2001–2004) Hamidreza Baradaran-Shoraka (2004–2005) Vice President and Head of Physical Education Organization Mostafa Hashemitaba (1997–2001) Mohsen Mehralizadeh (2001–2005) Vice President for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Mohammad-Ali Abtahi (2001–2004) Majid Ansari (2004–2005) * Acting **Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Jihad of Construction merged, forming Ministry of Jihad of Agriculture ***Ministry of Industries and Ministry of Mines and Metals merged, forming Ministry of Industries and Mines ****established in 2004

Ministers of Culture and Islamic Guidance of Iran Nasser Minachi Abbas Douzdouzani Majid Moadikhah Mohammad Khatami Ali Larijani Mostafa Mir-Salim Ata'ollah Mohajerani Ahmad Masjed-Jamei Hossein Saffar Harandi Mohammad Hosseini Ali Jannati