Mohsen Aminzadeh

Mohsen Aminzadeh (Persian:محسن امین زاده), born 1957 in Mashhad, Iran, is an Iranian reformist diplomat and politician. Aminzadeh was a founding member of the largest reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front. He served as the Deputy Foreign Minister during the 1997-2005 administration of the Iranian president Mohammad Khatami.

Like many other senior reformist politicians, Aminzadeh was arrested in June 2009 for protesting the disputed re-election of president Ahmadinejad and convicted in 2010 of conspiring to "disturb security" and "spreading propaganda" against the Islamic regime.[1]

Education

Aminzadeh received a B.Sc. in Mining Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology in 1982. He entered Shahid Beheshti University in late 1990 and studied for a Masters in Political Science. He also has PhD in Political Science from Tehran University.

Political career

In 1988, Aminzadeh was appointed the first head of a department dedicated to the press within the Ministry of Culture.[2]

He served as Deputy Foreign Minister from 1997–2005 under the reformist administration of Mohammad Khatami.[2]

Arrest and imprisonment

BBC News and Amnesty International have described him as "a leading member" of the Islamic Iran Participation Front.[1][3] According to the semiofficial ISNA news agency, Aminzadeh was head of the opposition coalition's headquarters in 2009.[1] He was arrested in June 2009, amidst the 2009 Iranian election protests.[3]

On February 8, 2010, ISNA reported that Aminzadeh had been sentenced to six years in prison by an Revolutionary court[1] – making him one of the most senior of the 100 reform activists and politicians to be sentenced following the mass trial of the postelection crackdown.

According to Aminzadeh's lawyer, Abbas Shiri, his client was convicted of conspiring to "disturb security" and "spreading propaganda" against the regime.[4] He was released on 18 September 2013.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Iran 'jails opposition leader Mohsen Aminzadeh', BBC News, 8 February 2010
  2. 1 2 Geneive Abdo; Jonathan Lyons (2004). Answering Only to God: Faith and Freedom in Twenty-First-Century Iran (2nd ed.). Macmillan. p. 186. ISBN 0-8050-7514-3.
  3. 1 2 "Opposition Leaders Detained in Iran". Amnesty International. June 19, 2009.
  4. ↑ Khamenei Vows To Deliver 'Punch In The Mouth' To Opposition NASSER KARIMI | huffingtonpost | 02/8/2010
  5. ↑ "Some people arrested after 2009 election released". Tehran Times. 19 September 2013.
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