Name Mohammed Malekzadeh | Role Politician | |
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Mohammad Sharif Malekzadeh (born 1970), is an Iranian politician and academic who was a "close ally" of former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad under whom he served as deputy foreign minister. As of 2015 he was reportedly an academic at Edalat University.
Malekzadeh is perhaps most notable in English language sources for his arrest on June 23, 2011 as part of the 2011 rift between the Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Although no charges were made during the arrest, he had been accused of being part of a "deviant current" trying to undermine the role of Iran's religious leaders and also of financial corruption by "some" members of parliament. He is thought to be the "most senior" of the "at least 25" associates of Ahmadinejad who were arrested, and one of three close Ahmadinejad allies arrested the same week (the other two being Alireza Moghimi, a senior director and Afshin Ronaghi, a deputy minister of industries and mines). Malekzadeh had stepped down earlier in the face of a "growing opposition" from members of Parliament, who threatened to impeach the foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, if he did not dismiss Mr. Malekzadeh. Malekzadeh was also an ally of the individual "seen to be at the center of the political struggle", the president’s chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, who was alleged by a hard-line newspaper to be a “very dangerous person who is propping up a new cult.”
According to his website he has a PhD and Post-doctorate degree in Industrial Management, and as of 2016 he is the vice president for international affairs of Edalat University; professor and president of State Higher Education, Research and Planning Institute; President of the board of trustees of Cultural Heritage Research Center; and member of the board of trustees and International Deputy of Edalat University.