Hossein Marashi

Hossein Marashi ( حسین مرعشی; born 17 November 1958 in Rafsanjan) is an Iranian politician. He served as the Iranian Vice President for Cultural Heritage and Tourism from 2003 to 2005. Prior to that, Marashi represented Kerman in the Iranian parliament. He strongly backed opposition candidate Mousavi in the 2009 Iranian election.^[1] Mr Marashi is also reportedly a close ally of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, another former president.^[2] He has been Deputy Leader of the Executives of Construction Party since May 2011.

He was the head of the province of Kerman for nearly nine years. He founded a charity by the name of Kerman Molal-Movahedin Non-Profit Institute, which owns Mahan Air, an Iranian airline. In 2011, the charity was involved in a scandal when it was accused of buying airplanes on behalf of Mahan Air. The airline had been facing sanctions by the United States Department of the Treasury for allegedly transporting weapons and advisors to troubled areas such as Syria and Yemen. The claim that firm had any connection with these political actives was denied by members of its board, and Marashi himself. ^[3][4]

As the head of Cultural Heritage Organization of Iran, Marashi increased the budget of the organization. However, some of Marashi's opponents believe that he was responsible for the disappearance of invaluable historical pieces, and the destruction of historical buildings. These opponents claim that despite public pressure, he never took any action to stop the the destruction of historical artifacts. Marashi supported the construction of the controversial Sivand Dam in the territory of Pasargadae The dam was constructed in proximity to the ancient city, and experts believe that if the dam burst, it could destroy several UNESCO World Heritage Sites. ^[5]

On March 19th, 2010 it was announced that Marashi had been jailed by the Iran, when a court of appeals upheld his one-year prison term. He was released from prison earlier than that, on January 25th, 2011.^[6]

Marashi is a cousin of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's wife.

References

External links

• Official website
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/story/2005/09/050902_ra-jb-iran-pasargad.shtml

Cabinet of President Mohammad Khatami (1997–2005)   Cabinet Minister of Foreign Affairs Kamal Kharrazi (1997–2005) Minister of Agriculture** Isa 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 Shafeei (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