Ahmad Tavakkoli (احمد توکلی in
PersianPersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is widely spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and to some extent in Iraq and Bahrain, and has a status of official language in the first three countries under different names...
) is a
conservativeConservatism is the diverse political and social philosophy that supports tradition and the status quo, or that calls for a return to the values and society of an earlier age, the status quo ante. However, the term has been used by politicians and political commentators with a variety of meanings...
representative of
TehranTehran is the capital and largest city of Iran, and the administrative center of Tehran Province. Tehran is a sprawling city at the foot of the Tochal mountain range with an immense network of highways unparalleled in Western Asia...
in the
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
ian
parliamentThe Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran , also called The Iranian Parliament or People's House, is the national legislative body of Iran...
, and the Director of
Strategic Majlis Research CenterStrategic Majlis Research Center is the research arm of the Iranian parliament . This Center has access to the classified information of Foreign Ministry, Intelligence Ministry and Defense Ministry of Iran....
. He is a former revolutionary prosecutor, infamous for performing punishments like cutting the hands of thieves and stoning for adultery (first case in the history of Islamic republic).
Before, he had been the
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
ian Minister of Labour under
Mir-Hossein MousaviMir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh is an Iranian reformist politician, painter and architect who served as the fifth and last Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran from 1981 to 1989...
, a parliament representative from
BehshahrBehshahr , also known as Behshar is a city close to the capital of the province of Mazandaran in Iran. It had an estimated population of 93,282 in 2005....
, and a presidential candidate in two of the presidential elections in Iran (running against Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and
Mohammad KhatamiSeyed Mohammad Khātamī is an Iranian scholar and politician. He served as the fifth President of Iran from August 2, 1997 to August 3, 2005...
, both in their second terms).
Tavakkoli temporarily left politics after the leftists oppositions forced him out of the Ministry of Labour.
Ahmad Tavakkoli (احمد توکلی in
PersianPersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is widely spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and to some extent in Iraq and Bahrain, and has a status of official language in the first three countries under different names...
) is a
conservativeConservatism is the diverse political and social philosophy that supports tradition and the status quo, or that calls for a return to the values and society of an earlier age, the status quo ante. However, the term has been used by politicians and political commentators with a variety of meanings...
representative of
TehranTehran is the capital and largest city of Iran, and the administrative center of Tehran Province. Tehran is a sprawling city at the foot of the Tochal mountain range with an immense network of highways unparalleled in Western Asia...
in the
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
ian
parliamentThe Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran , also called The Iranian Parliament or People's House, is the national legislative body of Iran...
, and the Director of
Strategic Majlis Research CenterStrategic Majlis Research Center is the research arm of the Iranian parliament . This Center has access to the classified information of Foreign Ministry, Intelligence Ministry and Defense Ministry of Iran....
. He is a former revolutionary prosecutor, infamous for performing punishments like cutting the hands of thieves and stoning for adultery (first case in the history of Islamic republic).
Before, he had been the
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
ian Minister of Labour under
Mir-Hossein MousaviMir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh is an Iranian reformist politician, painter and architect who served as the fifth and last Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran from 1981 to 1989...
, a parliament representative from
BehshahrBehshahr , also known as Behshar is a city close to the capital of the province of Mazandaran in Iran. It had an estimated population of 93,282 in 2005....
, and a presidential candidate in two of the presidential elections in Iran (running against Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and
Mohammad KhatamiSeyed Mohammad Khātamī is an Iranian scholar and politician. He served as the fifth President of Iran from August 2, 1997 to August 3, 2005...
, both in their second terms).
Tavakkoli temporarily left politics after the leftists oppositions forced him out of the Ministry of Labour. He founded
ResalatMedia*Resalat , a conservative newspaper in Iran founded by Ahmad TavakkoliPlaces*Resalat , a highway in Tehran, Iran*Resalat , a neighborhood in Tehran, Iran...
, a conservative
newspaperA newspaper is a publication containing news, information, and advertising. General-interest newspapers often feature articles on political events, crime, business, art/entertainment, society and sports. Most traditional papers also feature an editorial page containing columns that express the...
, and later left Iran to study
economicsEconomics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
in the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, where he got his
Ph.D.Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated PhD , for the Latin , meaning "teacher of philosophy", or alternatively, DPhil, for the equivalent , is an advanced academic degree awarded by universities...
.
There are serious doubts about Tavakkoli's degree. When he was a president candidate, and labour minister, he claimed that he had a secondary school degree. Eight years later when he supported conservative candidate Nategh Nouri who ran against reformist Khatami, he claimed that he was an economy doctorate student in UK. He also announced about his new view who likes to share that he already had Bachelor's degree when he was young and he got his Masters after the 1979 revolution. It seems that he made fake credentials in order to get approved in a Britain university. He was mostly in Iran when he claimed he was getting his doctorate. There are always professionals who prepare thesis when their wage is paid by a powerful person. His method of escaping forward, configured his claims against other politicians degree controversies like the past interior minister of Ahmadinejad, Kordan, and current first deputy of Iranian president, Rahimi, who believed possessing fake PhD from Oxford. After his return to Iran, he founded
Farda which was considered a professional and sound newspaper before going
bankruptBankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay its creditors. Creditors may file a bankruptcy petition against a debtor in an effort to recoup a portion of what they are owed or initiate a restructuring...
.
Tavakkoli is a critic of a
capitalistic economyCapitalism is an economic and social system in which the means of production are privately controlled; labor, goods and capital are traded in a market; profits are distributed to owners or invested in technologies and industries; and wages are paid to labor...
, and backs the government's role in controlling the
economyEconomics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
. He is also a critic of religious intellectualism in Iran and once called for execution of
Abdolkarim SoroushAbdolkarim Soroush , born Hosein Haj Faraj Dabbagh , is an Iranian thinker, philosopher, reformer, Rumi scholar and a former professor at the University of Tehran. He is a well-known figure in religious intellectual movement in Iran. Professor Soroush is currently a visiting scholar at Georgetown...
, a prominent Iranian academic and philosopher.
Tavakkoli is a cousin of the Larijani brothers, the most famous of which are
Ali LarijaniAli Ardashir Larijani is an Iranian philosopher, politician and the chairman/speaker of the Iranian parliament. Larijani was the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council from August 15, 2005 to October 20, 2007, appointed to the position by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,replacing Hassan...
and
Mohammad Javad LarijaniMohammad Javad Ardashir Larijani is an Iranian politician, cleric and mathematician! He is currently the Director of Institute for Studies in Theoretical Physics and Mathematics in Tehran. Previously, he has been a Majlis representative and the director of Majlis Research Center, and a Vice...
.
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