Seyyed Mostafa Tajzadeh (سید مصطفی تاج‌زاده born 1956) is an Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

ian progressive

Progressivism

Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...

, reformist politician, and a member of Islamic Iran Participation Front

Islamic Iran Participation Front

The Islamic Iran Participation Front is a reformist political party in Iran...

 (Jebhe-ye Mosharekat).

Political career

Tajzadeh served as the Political Vice Minister of the Ministry of Interior of Iran in the government of Mohammad Khatami

Mohammad Khatami

Sayyid Mohammad Khātamī is an Iranian scholar, philosopher, Shiite theologian and Reformist politician. He served as the fifth President of Iran from August 2, 1997 to August 3, 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture in both the 1980s and 1990s...

, and under the Minister Abdollah Noori

Abdollah Noori

Abdollah Noori is an Iranian reformist politician and cleric. Despite his "long history of service to the Islamic Republic," he became the most senior Islamic politician to be sentenced to prison since the Iranian Revolution when he was sentenced to five years in prison for political and religious...

, since 1997, after being introduced to Noori by Gholamhossein Karbaschi

Gholamhossein Karbaschi

Gholamhossein Karbaschi is an Iranian politician who was the Mayor of Tehran from 1989 until 1998. He is considered politically reformist and is a close ally of former president Mohammad Khatami...

 and Mohammad Atrianfar

Mohammad Atrianfar

Mohammad Atrianfar is an Iranian journalist and reformist politician, currently the head of the "Policymaking Council" of the daily newspaper Shargh. He is a member of the Executives of Construction Party...

. The first Iranian elections for the City and Village Councils of Iran

City and Village Councils of Iran

City and Village Councils are local councils which are elected by public vote in all cities and villages throughout Iran....

 happened under Tajzadeh. Later, he became an Adviser to the President of Iran

President of Iran

The President of Iran is the highest popularly elected official in, and the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Iran; although subordinate to the Supreme Leader of Iran, who functions as the country's head of state...

, Mohammad Khatami, from November 21, 2004 until the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

He started working in the Islamic Republic

Islamic republic

Islamic republic is the name given to several states in the Muslim world including the Islamic Republics of Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, and Mauritania. Pakistan adopted the title under the constitution of 1956. Mauritania adopted it on 28 November 1958. Iran adopted it after the 1979 Iranian...

 government as an employee of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance in May, 1982. He went up to became a vice minister when Mohammad Khatami was the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, but after Khatami resigned from the post, he was downgraded to an assistant librarian. He left the ministry after a while, and worked for the newspaper Hamshahri until 1997.

Right after June 12, 2009 Iran's presidential election, Tajzadeh was arrested. He was released from jail on March 10, 2010 (18 Esfand, 1388).

Personal life

Tajzadeh is a Ph.D.

Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...

 student in political science

Political science

Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

 from University of Tehran

University of Tehran

The University of Tehran , also known as Tehran University and UT, is Iran's oldest university. Located in Tehran, the university is among the most prestigious in the country, and is consistently selected as the first choice of many applicants in the annual nationwide entrance exam for top Iranian...

 and has two daughters. His wife is Fakhrossadat Mohtashamipour, the cousin of cleric Ali Akbar Mohtashami-Pur

Ali Akbar Mohtashami-Pur

Hojatoleslam Ali-Akbar Mohtashamipur or Mohtashemi is a Twelver Shia Hojatoleslam cleric who was active in the 1979 Iranian Revolution and later became interior minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran He is "seen as a founder of the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon" and one of the "radical .....

. He has also lived in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 for 31 months.

Amnesty International

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

 reported that he was arrested in June 2009, amidst the 2009 Iranian election protests

2009 Iranian election protests

Protests following the 2009 Iranian presidential election against the disputed victory of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and in support of opposition candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi occurred in major cities in Iran and around the world starting June 13, 2009...

.

External links

• Mostafa Tajzadeh's blog (in Persian)
• A short biography, Tajzadeh's short autobiography (in Persian)