Gholamhossein Karbaschi
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| GholamHossein Karbaschi | |
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| In office September, 1989 – September, 1998 |
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| Preceded by | Javad Shahrestani |
| Succeeded by | Morteza Alviri |
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Governor of Isfahan Province
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| In office 1984 – 1989 |
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| Preceded by | Saleq Qorbani |
| Succeeded by | Eshaq Jahangiri |
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Manager of Hamshahri daily newspaper
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| In office 1992 – 1998 |
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| Born | August 23, 1954 Tehran, Iran  |
| Political party | Executives of Construction Party |
| Alma mater | Tarbiat Modares University |
| Religion | Usuli Twelver Shia Islam |
Gholamhossein Karbaschi (Persian: غلامحسین کرباسچی) (born ~1954) was the Mayor of Tehran, between 1988 and 1998. He is considered politically reformist and is a close ally of former president Mohammad Khatami. He was arrested, tried convicted and imprisoned on corruption charges in what the New York Times claimed "was widely seen among moderates as a politically motivated attack" by the Government's conservatives and hard-liners to thwart President Mohammad Khatami's reformist agenda.[1]
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[edit] Background
Karbaschi was trained as a cleric in the holy city of Qom and spent time in Evin prison for his political activities before the revolution.[2]
Karbaschi was a driving force for many new modernization efforts. As the Mayor of Tehran was known for having bulldozed apartment buildings and office buildings built without city approval, removed revolutionary graffiti from walls, planted thousands of trees, banned much of the private traffic in central Teheran and opened more than a hundred parks. Karbaschi also angering bazaar merchants by raising taxes and contributing to the city's soaring real estate prices, earning him the reputation during his time as mayor of "the most loved and hated man in Teheran."[2] He started the first Iranian full colour newspaper, Hamshahri, while mayor.[citation needed]
Karbaschi was one of the key supporters of President Mohammad Khatami's first presidential election campaign which lead to Khatami's landslide victory (1997). After Mohammad Khatami's victory, a power struggle started within the political establishment of Iran between the reformists and conservatives of the Iranian government. Karbaschi's arrest in April 1998 prompted thousands of student demonstrators to clash with riot police, and the Interior Minister (who was later arrested for sacrilege) to complain that he had not been informed of the arrest despite that fact that Karbaschi was a member of the president's cabinet in addition to being mayor of Iran's capital and largest city.[3]
[edit] Trial
The prosecution of Karbaschi was called "the most prominent part of a campaign" by Iranian clerical conservatives "to thwart the reformist administration" of President Mohammad Khatami, rather than an honest attempt to "uncover and punish" financial corruption. The trial was often "a heated debate -- at times a shouting match" -- between judge Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejehei and Karbaschi, who holds the same clerical rank as Ejei. The trial "captured record audiences" while being broadcast on Iranian television, and was "debated in detail" in Iran's press. [2]
In July 1998 Karbaschi was convicted of corruption and misuse of funds and began serving a two-year sentence in May 1999, "despite last-ditch efforts by his supporters".[1] including a petition "signed by more than 130 members of parliament - nearly half the chamber" -asking supreme leader Ali Khamenei for a pardon.[4]
Since his release from prison Karbaschi has been serving as the Secretary-General of Executives of Construction Party.
He is also the manager of Ham-Mihan, a new reformist newspaper published in Tehran. This newspaper was forced to stop publishing twice. Once in the collective ban of almost all reformist newspapers in 2000 and again in July 2007 after a very short period of publication.
[edit] Personal
Karbaschi is a moderate politician who favors ties with the Western World. He currently has several blogs which he posts in. Mr. Karbaschi has a twitter account with over 10000 followers.
[edit] See also
- Iranian reform movement
- Mohammad Khatami
- Mehdi Karroubi
- Mohammad Ali Abtahi
- Faezeh Hashemi
- Mehdi Karroubi
- Ataollah Mohajerani
- Reza Ostadi
