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Ali Kordan

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Ali Kordan (identified as EvazAli Kordan by his original birth certificate)[citation needed] is an Iranian conservative politician and current interior minister of Iran. He was approved for this position as of August 5, 2008 by Iranian Parliament. Kordan is a former deputy oil minister with previous service in the judiciary and the Revolutionary Guards.[1]

Career

Kordan was appointed deputy oil minister in around October 2007. He had turned down the offer of the same position in 2006.[2]

He had previously served as deputy labour minister, president of Iran's Technical and Vocational Organization, deputy head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) for provincial and parliamentary affairs, deputy head of IRIB for administrative and financial affairs, and deputy minister for culture and Islamic guidance for administrative and financial affairs.[2]

Degree controversy

Kordan claimed to have an honorary doctorate in law from Oxford University. However his academic qualifications and doctorate have been widely questioned by Iranian parliament members and the media.[3] Immediately following his appointment as the Interior Minister, the Ministry threatened the media in an official announcement, urging them to avoid writing about Kordan's academic degree.

Kordan later released a copy of his degree showing an Honorary Doctorate of Law Degree that was conferred on him in June 2000 and was under-signed by three Oxford University professors. The certificate was clumsily worded and punctuated, saying that Kordan was granted the degree "to be benefitted from its scientific privileges", and "entitled" was spelt "intitled".[4] The spelling of "entitle" as "intitle" in the degree was used by some commentators as being indicative of the degree being bogus (i.e. issued by a diploma mill),[5] but the word "intitle" is an obsolete spelling of "entitle".[6]

Responding to an inquiry by Alef news agency, on August 11 2008 Oxford University denied it had awarded Kordan an honorary doctorate of law or any other degree from the university. The University of Oxford published an official statement on its website that they have no record of Mr Ali Kordan receiving an honorary doctorate or any other degree from the University [7] It noted that none of the professors whose alleged signatures were on the certificate were working in the field of law, and none of them would sign degree certificates.[4][8][9] As a result, chairman of Iranian parliament Ali Larijani initiated an investigation into the validity of Kordan's degree.[4][10]

On August 12, 2008 President Ahmadinejad appointed Mr Ali Kordan as the Minister of Interior. It was reported that Alef News Website (Alef.ir), which was pursuing the authenticity of the alleged "certificate," had been blocked by the Iranian "authorities."[11]

On August 15, 2008 University of Oxford published their statement about Mr. Ali Kordan on their web page stating that "The University of Oxford has no record of Mr Ali Kordan receiving an honorary doctorate or any other degree from the University.".[12] This statement confirmed their earlier reply to Alef website.

As of August 27, 2008, The Ministary of Science, Research and Technology of the Islamic Republic denies announcing any statement on Kordan's Doctorate Degree.".[12]

Moral charges

Kordan is believed to have been arrested in 1978 after he was accused of seducing a girl with false marriage promise and he was jailed for more than two months. However he was released after the revolution.[13][14]

Financial corruption

During his post as the deputy head of IRIB in financial affairs, Ali Kordan was accused of a high profile financial corruption (525 billion Tomans). However the Judiciary system did not charge him after a long investigation.[citation needed]. Also Kayhan newspaper published an article accusing Kordan of his corruption concerning "The Crescent file".

File:Ali Kordan.jpg

References

  1. ^ "Iran parliament approves new reshuffle". Agence France-Presse. 2008-08-05. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
  2. ^ a b Amanat, Reza (2007-10-11). "Ali Kordan Appointed Iranian Deputy Oil Minister".
  3. ^ "Majlis Confirms 3 Ministers". Tehran Times. 2008-08-06. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
  4. ^ a b c "Iranian minister's Oxford degree a fake". MSNBC. 2008-08-13.
  5. ^ "Many obvious errors in Kordan's Oxford honorary doctorate certificate" (in Persian). Asr Iran. 2008-08-10. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
  6. ^ This fact is recorded both by the The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (5th edition, 2002), and the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edition, 2004). The latter dictionary provides numerous examples in which the word intitle is used in the meaning of entitle, such as "With how much Justice it is intitled to such a Name." (1695), or "A higher rank in the temple of fame than either his talents or performances intitle him to hold." (1769).
  7. ^ "Statement from the University of Oxford" (in Persian). Alef. 2008-08-11. Retrieved 2008-08-11.
  8. ^ "The Ministry of Interior: Skepticism about Kordan's degree is forbidden" (in Persian). Radio Zamaneh. 2008-08-08. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
  9. ^ "The parliament investigates the authenticity of Kordan's degree" (in Persian). BBC Persian. 2008-08-011. Retrieved 2008-08-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ "به دستور لاريجاني مجلس در مورد اصالت مدرك تحصيلي وزير كشور تحقيق مي‌كند" (in Persian). IRNA. 2008-08-11. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
  11. ^ "Iranian minister exposed with fake Oxford degree". The Daily Telegraph. 2008-08-13. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
  12. ^ a b "Statement: Mr Ali Kordan". The University of Oxford. 2008-08-15. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
  13. ^ "سوابق اخلاقي". Rooz online. 2008-08-14. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
  14. ^ "تصویر سند بازداشت عوض علی کردان به اتهام ازاله بکارت" (in Persian). Peykeiran. 2008-08-18. Retrieved 2008-08-18.

See also

Preceded by Interior minister of Iran
2008-now 		Succeeded by
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