By: Reza Shafa
On April 25, Ahmadinejad appointed Hosseinian as his new political and security adviser.
Who is Ruhollah Hosseinian?
– He was born in 1955 in the southern city of Shiraz. He began his theological studies at Valiasr School of Theology and later he went to Theological Hagani School which is an influential religious school in Qom where most Iranian regime’s officials were trained. The infamous former Minister of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), Ali Fallahian, is among the school graduates. The current Interior Minister, Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi and MOIS’s current chief, Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei are all among Hosseinian’s former classmates.
– Hosseinan has been Director of the Islamic Revolution Archives. The center has been closely working with MOIS to tamper with SAVAK’s documents against the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). The center has published many books made up of fraudulent documents against the PMOI such as “The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran: from the beginning to the end” and “People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran” in three volumes.
– At the same time, Hosseinian has been working as the judge and henchmen in the mullahs’ regime. His record includes: the Islamic Revolutionary Prosecutor in the northeastern city of Mashhad in 1983, Deputy Islamic Revolutionary Prosecutor in Tehran, and the Islamic Revolutionary Prosecutor in the Sistan-Baluchestan Province. Upon returning from Sistan and Baluchestan, respectively, he took over as the Prosecutor of special court for clerics and the judge for Fourth Circuit special court for clerics. Later he became a judge at one of Tehran’s courts and finally the representative for Revolutionary Court in MOIS.
– Aside from being a judge, he numerously filled in as a member of the jury in many of the regime’s courts. He was a member of the jury in the trials of Tehran’s former mayor, Gholamhossein Karbaschi and Abdullah Noori, the Minister of Interior in Mohammad Khatami’s first term.
Rohallah Hosseinian and Saeed Imami (former deputy intelligence minister)
Hosseinian had been a stanched supporter of Saeed Imami who was the Vice Minister of Security and Intelligence when Ali Fallahian was the chief of the MOIS. Imami was the mastermind in the assassinations spree known as the “chain murders” in winter of 1999 in Iran. Openly mourning over Imami’s death, Hosseinian called him a martyr and said, “Hajj Saeed innocently sacrificed himself in the path of Islam.”
– He clearly defended the serial murders of Iranian intellectuals and described the victims as apostates, in an interview with official daily, Kayhan, on January 11, 1999. “I do not deny that Saeed Imami may have been involved in the murders. Because Saeed Islami actually believed that the enemies of the Islamic Republic must be wiped off the face of the earth. He had a lot of experience in this matter,” said Hosseinian in an interview with the state-run daily Sobhe-Emrooz on September 12, 1999.
Hosseinian and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
– In Iran’s 2005 Presidential Elections, Hosseinian was one of Ahmadinejad’s closest supporters. In an interview with the state-run news agencies Mehr and ISNA, he said, “The government’s diplomacy is one of positive engagement. I support Mr. Ahmadinejad for his aggressive [foreign] policy in the international scene. I support his position and I think he will succeed.”
– In the resent dispute over the British sailors, Hosseinian in his personal website compared Ahmadinejad’s treatment of British sailors to that of “Rais Ali Delvari [19th century Iranian national hero in fight against British Colonialism] and Omar Al-Mokhtar [19th century Libyan national hero in fight against British Colonialism] …”
– Last winter, in an interview with media outlets, Hosseinian defended Ahmadinejad again and said, “Fidel Castro had clearly told our president that if he had not been afraid that the political balance may tip, he would have declared that he has converted to Shiite Islam.”
Appointing Rohallah Hosseinian as his new political and security adviser is in line with the terrorist plans Ahmadinejad has in mind.
Reza Shafa is an expert on the Iranian regime’s intelligence networks, both in Iran and abroad. He has done extensive research on VAVAK (MOIS), IRGC’s Intelligence Office, and Quds Force among others. Currently he is a contributor to NCRI website.