Morteza Alviri

Morteza Alviri
Member of City Council of Tehran
In office
23 August 2017 – 4 August 2021
Chairman pro tem of City Council of Tehran[1]
In office
22 May 2017 – 19 August 2017
Serving with Mehdi Chamran (Sitting chairman)
DeputyAhmad Masjed-Jamei
Preceded byMehdi Chamran
Succeeded byMohsen Hashemi Rafsanjani
Ambassador to Spain
In office
22 June 2003 – 22 June 2006
PresidentMohammad Khatami
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Mayor of Tehran
In office
1 June 1999 – 19 February 2002
Preceded byGholamhossein Karbaschi
Succeeded byMohammad Haghani (Acting)
Member of Parliament
In office
28 May 1988 – 28 May 1992
ConstituencyTehran, Rey and Shemiranat
Majority413,022 (47%)
In office
28 May 1980 – 28 May 1984
ConstituencyDamavand
Majority13,201 (68.1%)
Personal details
Born (1948-11-23) 23 November 1948 (age 75)
Damavand, Tehran Province, Iran
Political partyExecutives of Construction Party[2]
Other political
affiliations
Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization (1980s)[3]
People's Mujahedin of Iran (late 1960s)
Alma materSharif University of Technology
Military service
AllegianceIran
Branch/serviceImperial Iranian Army
Years of service1974–1976
RankPrivate

Morteza Alviri (Persian: مرتضی الویری, born 23 November 1948) is an Iranian politician who served as Mayor of Tehran from 1999 to 2001.

Education

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He is a graduate in Electrical Engineering from the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran and has a Master's in Management from the State Management Training Center.[4]

Career

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During the regime of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi he was imprisoned for activities with the Fallah organisation.[5]

After the Iranian Revolution he served on the central council of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards. He was affiliated with the leftist faction of the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization, and was elected an MP in the Majlis of Iran in 1980 and 1988. He was a close associate of then-speaker Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Alviri was a supporter of Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, who was dismissed as Ayatollah Khomeini's deputy in 1988, and as a result Alviri was prevented from running in the 1992 Majlis elections. Since then he moved from leftist to economically liberal views, and has served in various governmental positions including the Supreme National Security Council's economic committee, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the Ministry of Mines and Metals and was secretary of the Supreme Council for Free Trade Zones during the presidency of Mohammad Khatami and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.[6]

He was unanimously selected as the Mayor of Tehran in June 1999 by the fifteen Tehran City Councillors following the imprisonment of the serving mayor, Gholamhossein Karbaschi, on corruption charges. He is associated with Rafsanjani's Executives of Construction Party.[7] In November 2001, he narrowly avoided impeachment by the council.[8]

In February 2002 he resigned as Mayor, accused of mismanagement by Ebrahim Asgharzadeh.[9] In June 2003 he was appointed as Iran's ambassador to Spain.[citation needed] He was replaced by Seyyed Davoud Salehi on 22 June 2006.[citation needed]

Arrest

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Mr. Alviri, Karrobi's representative to a committee tasked with investigating post-election crimes, was taken into custody by armed intelligence agents on 8 September 2009.[10][11]

References

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  1. ^ Aida Ghajar (24 May 2017), "Reformists Turn the Tide in Tehran", Iran Wire, retrieved 24 May 2017
  2. ^ "Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Iran: The National Kargozaran-Sazandegi Party; political view, its leaders, branches, and participation in any election in Iran (1998), 19 February 2002, IRN38586.E". www.refworld.org. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  3. ^ Alfoneh, Ali (2013), Iran Unveiled: How the Revolutionary Guards Is Transforming Iran from Theocracy into Military Dictatorship, AEI Press, pp. 8–10
  4. ^ Biography Archived 14 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine. Salamiran.org. Retrieved on 25 October 2015.
  5. ^ Morteza Alviri, former radical turned liberal technocrat, The Iranian, 1 June 1999
  6. ^ Bill Samii (14 June 1999), "Iran Report", Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, vol. 2, no. 24, retrieved 17 June 2017
  7. ^ Tehran's new mayor, Global Security, 7 June 1999
  8. ^ Bill Samii (12 November 2001), "Iran Report", Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, vol. 4, no. 43, retrieved 17 June 2017
  9. ^ "Iran Report". RFE/RL. 18 February 2002.
  10. ^ Nazila Fathi (8 September 2009). "Iranian Opposition Offices Are Raided". New York Times.
  11. ^ "Iran shuts reformer Karoubi's office, detains aide". Reuters. 8 September 2009.
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Media related to Morteza Alviri at Wikimedia Commons