Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem

Seyyed Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, also known as "Ayatollah Ale-Hashem" (28 October 1962 – 19 May 2024) was an Iranian jurist and Twelver Shia cleric who was the representative of Vali-e-Faqih (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist) in the province of East Azerbaijan,  and Imam of Friday Prayer in Tabriz.

Ale-Hashem was killed in the 2024 Varzaqan helicopter crash alongside then President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi and six others on board.

Biography
He was active during the Iran-Iraq War, and possessed the educational degree of Hawzah at "level 4" (Doctoral). Likewise, he passed his Kharij-Feqh lessons (of Hawzah) in the classes of Iran's current supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. He was also the head of the "Political Ideological Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Army" before being appointed the position of Vali-e-Faqih representative in East-Azerbaijan Province and Tabriz Imam-Jom'ah.

Personal life and death
Ale-Hashem was born on 28 October 1962. He had his education up to high school in his hometown, and afterwards moved to Qom for higher education at Hawzah.

On 19 May 2024, a helicopter carrying Ale-Hashem, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi crashed near the Azerbaijan–Iran border, killing all eight on board. He answered two phone calls after the crash, according to Gholamhossein Esmaili, who was aboard one of the helicopters in Raisi’s entourage. At a meeting of the Assembly of Experts on 21 May, a flower-ringed portrait of Ale-Hashem was placed on his seat.