Mostafa Pourmohammadi

Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi (born 9 March 1960) is an Iranian politician and prosecutor, who has served at different positions and cabinet posts. He was Minister of Interior from 2005 to 2008 and Minister of Justice from 2013 until 2017. Pourmohammadi is reportedly implicated in the 1988 execution of MEK prisoners.

Early life and education
Pourmohammadi was born in Qom, Iran in 1960. However, the IRNA reports his birth year as 1959.

He was educated in Islamic jurisprudence, principles of jurisprudence, and philosophy in the Haqqani seminary in Qom. He completed his education in extra-jurisprudence and principles in Mashhad, Qom, and Tehran. He holds a level four jurisprudence and Islamic law degree, which is equivalent of a PhD.

Career
Pourmohammadi was a prosecutor in the Revolutionary Court in Bandar Abbas, Kermanshah and Mashhad from 1979 to 1986. Next he served as prosecutor of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Court in the western regions in 1986.

He was appointed Deputy Intelligence Minister in 1987 under then-Minister of Intelligence Hojjatoleslam Ali Fallahian during the term of the former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. He was also named director the ministry's counterintelligence directorate. From 1997 to 1998 Pourmohammadi served as the director of the ministry's foreign directorate. His term as deputy intelligence minister ended in 1999.

In addition, he was acting Deputy Minister of Information from 1997 to 1999. He also served as member and head of the board of trustees of Center for Islamic Revolution Documents. He was appointed by supreme leader Khamenei as the head of the political and social department of his office in 2003.

On 24 August 2005, Pourmohammadi was appointed interior minister by Ahmadinejad. The Majlis approved him as minister with 153 votes in favor. In an effort to end the plight of refugees, Pourmohammadi attended a meeting of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on 10 October 2006 in Geneva, Switzerland. He was removed from office in a cabinet reshuffle in May 2008. He was dismissed allegedly for informing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei about the electoral irregularities without the consent of Ahmedinejad.

Then Pourmohammadi was appointed head of Iran's general inspectorate office. He announced his candidacy for the 2013 presidential election in March 2013, but withdrew in favor of Manouchehr Mottaki. On 4 August 2013, Pourmohammadi was nominated by newly elected President Hassan Rouhani as the Minister of Justice and was confirmed on 15 August by the Majlis. On 2 August 2017, he was announced that he will not be part of Rouhani's second government.

Controversy
During his tenure as deputy intelligence minister, Pourmohammadi was reportedly implicated in the 1988 Massacre of Iranian Prisoners, based on the orders of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and other key politicians. According to Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, he was "the representative of the Ministry of Information in charge of questioning prisoners in Evin Prison" during the massacre. Montazeri saw Pourmohammadi as being "a central figure" in the mass executions of prisoners in Tehran. In 2016, Mohammadi said: "We are proud to have carried out God’s commandment concerning the People's Mujahedin of Iran… I am at peace and have not lost any sleep all these years because I acted in accordance with law and Islam".

His nomination as Minister of Justice in August 2013 was criticized by three international organizations, namely Reporters Without Borders, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, and Human Rights Watch. These organizations requested the withdrawal of his nomination for the post of Minister due to his controversial past.

2024 Iranian presidential election
Pourmohammadi declared himself a candidate for the 2024 Iranian presidential election. During his efforts to be accepted as a candidate, he worked to distance himself from his past and established himself as a moderate conservative. He was barred from running by the Assembly of Experts on January 25.

Personal life
Pourmohammadi is married and has four children.

COVID-19 outbreak
During the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, there were unconfirmed reports about he having been taken to hospital for coronavirus symptoms, and later testing positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. He was later discharged from hospital.