Rajayi

Mohammad Ali Rajayi,Rejaie,Rajayee

رجایی ، محمد علی رجایی

Mr. Mohammad-Ali Rajayi was born on 15 June 1933 in Qazvin, Iran. His father, Abdolsamad, died when Mohammad-Ali was only 4 years old, after which he lived with his mother and brother. Rajayi grew up in Qazvin, and moved to Tehran in 1946. After moving to Tehran, he had a close relationship with the anti-Shah groups. He met with Ayatollah Mahmoud Taleghani. In 1958, He moved to the city of Bijar for a short period, but after a year, he moved back to Tehran and graduated as a teacher and worked at a school for a while until he was arrested in 1959 for close ties with Fadayian Eslam. He was released after 50 days in custody. He then joined the Freedom Movement and was arrested in May 1974 for his membership in MKO, but he was released after four years.
He was active during the Iranian Revolution leading a trend to free Iranian universities of western influences which was later called the Cultural Revolution.
After the Iranian Revolution, he became Minister of Education in the government of Mehdi Bazargan, and although Bazargan's Cabinet resigned in 6 November 1979, Rajayi did not resign and remained a minister until 12 August 1980, when he became Prime Minister. When Bani Sadr became the president of Iran in the first presidential election, he had to nominate a new Prime Minister, and after 5 months, he nominated Rajayi for the position, and parliament voted him in. He appointed Khodapanahi as Foreign Minister, Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani as Interior Minister and Javad Fakori as Defence Minister. During his premiership, Iran-Iraq War was started. After dismissal of Banisadr, Rajayi became the second president of Iran on August, 2 1981.
Banisadr had impeached on 22 June 1981 by parliament, and Khomeini held a Provisional Presidential Council by 6 people headed by Mohammad Beheshti and later Abdolkarim Mousavi Ardebili. Rajayi was one of the members of that Council. He nominated himself for the presidential election in 1981. He became the second president and the first president from the Islamic Republican Party winning 91% of the votes. He named Mohammad-Javad Bahonar as his Prime Minister to form a new government.
Rajayi made it to the headlines by showing signs of torture on his bare feet at the UN General Assembly in New York.
After one month as President, on August, 30 1981, Mr. Rajayi hosted a meeting of Iran's Supreme Defense Council, along with the Prime Minister Mohammad Javad Bahonar. A trusted aide brought a briefcase into the conference room, set it between the two leaders, and then left. Another person opened the case, triggering a bomb that set the room ablaze and killed Rajayi, Bahonar, and three others. The assassin was identified as Masood Kashmiri, an operative of the MKO, who had infiltrated the Prime Minister's office as a security official.
Rajayi was buried in Behesht Zahra.
After his death Mr. Khamenei became President.

See Also:Mohammad-Ali Rajai

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