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Mohammad-Ali Najafi

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Mohammad-Ali Najafi
محمدعلی نجفی
Najafi in 2017
Mayor of Tehran
In office
27 August 2017 – 10 April 2018
Preceded byMohammad Bagher Ghalibaf
Succeeded byMohammad-Ali Afshani
Minister of Science
In office
20 August 2014 – 26 November 2014
Acting
PresidentHassan Rouhani
Preceded byReza Farajidana
Succeeded byMohammad Farhadi
In office
17 August 1981 – 14 August 1984
PresidentMohammad-Ali Rajai
Ali Khamenei
Prime MinisterMohammad-Javad Bahonar
Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani (acting)
Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Preceded byHassan Arefi
Succeeded byIradj Fazel
Vice President of Iran
Head of Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization
In office
19 August 2013 – 30 January 2014
PresidentHassan Rouhani
Preceded byMohammed Sharif Malekzadeh
Succeeded byMasoud Soltanifar
Member of City Council of Tehran
In office
29 April 2007 – 18 August 2013
Succeeded byAbdolmoghim Nasehi
Majority202,700 (12.24%)
Vice President of Iran
Head of Management and Planning Organization
In office
15 August 1997 – 2 December 2000
PresidentMohammad Khatami
Preceded byHamid Mirzadeh
Succeeded byMohammad-Reza Aref
Minister of Education
In office
20 September 1988 – 20 August 1997
PresidentAli Khamenei
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Prime MinisterMir-Hossein Mousavi
Preceded byKazem Akrami
Succeeded byHossein Mozaffar
Personal details
Born (1952-01-13) 13 January 1952 (age 74)
Tehran, Iran
PartyExecutives of Construction Party
Spouse(s)
Sarvar Tabeshian
​
(m. 1976)​
[1]
Mitra Ostad
​
​
(m. 2018; died 2019)​
[2]
ChildrenZahra[3]
Alma materMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Sharif University of Technology
Signature
WebsiteOfficial website

Mohammad-Ali Najafi (Persian: محمدعلی نجفی; born 13 January 1952) is an Iranian mathematician, reformist politician, and murderer. He was the Mayor of Tehran for eight months, until April 2018, when he resigned after a video surfaced of him attending a dance performed by schoolgirls. He held cabinet portfolios during the 1980s, 1990s and 2010s. He is also a retired professor of mathematics at Sharif University of Technology.[4]

In May 2019, Najafi murdered one of his two wives. He was sentenced to death. Najafi was released from the death penalty following the "forgiveness" of his deceased wife's family.[5] His sentence was reduced to six years and six months in prison for manslaughter plus one year and three months in prison for possession of an unlicensed firearm, but the Supreme Court of Iran overturned a preliminary court ruling, and the case was reopened. In May 2020, Najafi, while being held in prison, said he had paid 100 billion rials (approximately $650,000) to Ostad's immediate relatives and that they had given him their forgiveness. Najafi was released from prison in April 2023, having paid blood money and received a pardon from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Early life and education

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Najafi was born in Tehran, Iran, on 13 January 1952.[6] He ranked first in the Iranian national university entrance exam, and enrolled in the Sharif University of Technology (then known as the Aryamehr University of Technology).[7] He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from the university.

Following his bachelors, he enrolled in a graduate program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Najafi received his Master of Science degree in mathematics with a final grade of A+ in 1976, but dropped out of a PhD program in 1978 during the Iranian revolution to return to Iran.[8][9]

Career

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Education

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Following the Iranian revolution of 1979, Najafi returned to Iran and became a faculty member at Isfahan University of Technology in 1979, and was the chair of the university from 1980 to 1981. He was a faculty member of the department of mathematical sciences in Sharif University of Technology from 1984 to 1988, when he moved to government.

At the end of the reformist government of Mohammad Khatami and following Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election, Najafi moved back to university and has been faculty in the department of mathematics at Sharif University of Technology[10] working on representation theory.[9]

Politics

[edit]
Najafi in 2009

He served as an advisor to politician Mostafa Chamran.[10] Najafi was the minister of higher education from 1981 to 1984 in the cabinet of then Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi.[9][10]

In 1989, Najafi became the minister of education under then President Hashemi Rafsanjani and served until 1997.[9][10] In 1997, he was appointed vice president and head of the Planning and Budget Organization by President Mohammad Khatami, but after a merger of the organization with another he was succeeded by Mohammad Reza Aref in the post. Najafi was an advisor to President Khatami and the senior advisor to the minister of industries from 2001 to 2005.[10] In the 2006 Iranian City and Village Councils elections, Najafi ran for a seat in Tehran City Council. He headed a list named "The Union of Reformists" (ائتلاف اصلاح‌طلبان). This was the first time Najafi ran in a general election in Iran. He was not sought for a reelection in 2013 local election. He was also an advisor to Shia cleric and reformist politician Mahdi Karroubi.[11] He is the cofounder of the Executives of Construction Party.[12]

He was nominated as minister of education by Hassan Rouhani. However, the Parliament did not approve his appointment on 15 August 2013.[13] Najafi received 142 votes in favor, 133 votes against, and 9 abstentions.[11] He was appointed head of Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Tourism Organization on 17 August.[14] However, Najafi resigned from his position on 30 January 2014 due to health problems, making it the first change in Rouhani's cabinet.[15]

Mayor of Tehran

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On 21 July 2017, Najafi was the candidate with the most votes among the seven top candidates for Mayor of Tehran.[16] On 10 August 2017, he was unanimously elected as the new mayor by the City Council of Tehran, defeating Elaheh Koulaei and Mohsen Mehralizadeh.[17] The decision was unofficial, but became effective when the council convened its first official meeting on 23 August. After his office-taking took longer than usual, the council appointed a caretaker on 27 August.[18] Hours later and minutes to midnight, the Interior Ministry approved his credentials and he took office.[19]

Najafi threatened to disclose what he maintained was widespread financial corruption under his predecessor, IRGC General Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.[20] He maintained that there were “widespread illegal actions” under Ghalibaf, resulting in billions of dollars in city debt, corruption, and the illegal transfer of city real estate.[21]

Najafi resigned after only eight months in office on 14 March 2018, a few days after a video surfaced of him attending a dance performed by six schoolgirls ages eight to nine in traditional costume in celebration of an Islamic version of Mother’s Day.[22][23][24] This offended Iranian clerics. However, according to one of the council members, the resignation was due to medical problems.[25]

Murder of wife

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In 2019, Najafi murdered one of his two wives, Mitra Ostad, 34.[26] He had married his second wife months after he resigned as Mayor of Tehran in 2018, without divorcing his first wife.[27][28] In Iran polygamy is legal, up to four wives.[28][29]

On 28 May 2019, Ostad was found dead in the bathtub of their apartment in Sa'adat Abad neighborhood's high-rise Armita Tower in northwest Tehran.[26] Iranian Police announced she was killed by several gunshots, with a bullet in her heart, several gunshots in her chest, and another in her arm. [29] Seven hours later, Najafi, 67, surrendered to police while walking to the Tehran Police Department, and confessed to murdering Ostad.[30][29][31] The ISNA news agency, stated that the head of the intelligence police, Alireza Lotfi, said about the details of Najafi's confession: "In his initial conversations, he stated that this action was carried out due to psychological pressures and family problems."[32][33] The head of Tehran Police's criminal investigation department said he was in detention, and that police had discovered the weapons he shot with. The firearm that was used was a 9 mm caliber pistol that resembled a Beretta 92.[citation needed]

On 30 July 2019, Najafi was sentenced to death for murdering his wife.[28] He also received a two-year jail sentence for illegal possession of a firearm.[24] Ostad's family initially asked for Qisas -- the Islamic law of "retaliation in kind" -- to be applied, which would have seen the death penalty served.[28]

But her family then reconsidered and decided to grant him a reprieve on 14 August 2019.[28] Under Iran’s Islamic criminal code, if a dead victim’s family forgives a killer, the killer can avoid the death penalty.[29] Thus, he was temporarily released from prison on bail of $92,400 (83,300 euros) on 28 August 2019, after family of his former wife spared him from his death sentence.[34][28]

He still faced a trial for premeditated murder that could led to a three to ten year jail term.[28] [29] His sentence was reduced to six years and six months in prison for manslaughter plus one year and three months in prison for possession of an unlicensed firearm, but the Supreme Court of Iran overturned a preliminary court ruling, and the case was reopened.[34]

In May 2020, Najafi, while being held in prison, said he had paid 100 billion rials (approximately $650,000) to Ostad's immediate relatives and that they had given him their forgiveness.[29]

Najafi was released from prison on release on April 9, 2023, having paid blood money and received a pardon from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.[35]

References

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  1. ↑ "Biography". Archived from the original on 29 October 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  2. ↑ "Wife of Iran presidential adviser shot dead at home". Arab News. 28 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  3. ↑ "همه چیز دربارۀ محمدعلی نجفی". Farda News. 25 January 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  4. ↑ "The Rise and Fall of Mohammad Ali Najafi". iranwire.com. Retrieved 17 June 2025.
  5. ↑ "Ex-Tehran Mayor 'Forgiven' For Wife's Murder, Avoids Execution". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 14 August 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2025.
  6. ↑ "Joint Crisis: Supreme Defense Council of Iran, 1980" (PDF). Harvard Model United Nations. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  7. ↑ "نجفی رئیس سازمان میراث فرهنگی و". Fars News.
  8. ↑ Mohammad Ghouchani (26 November 2006). "Why Najafi? (چرا نجفی؟)" (in Persian). Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 17 December 2006.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Faculty". Website of the Department of Mathematical Science of Sharif University of Technology. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 17 December 2006.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Paper publicity leaflet distributed by Setād-e Entexābāti-e Mohammad Ali Najafi (ستاد انتخاباتی محمدعلی نجفی), December 2006.
  11. 1 2 Karami, Arash (15 August 2013). "Three Rouhani Cabinet Nominees Rejected". Al Monitor. Retrieved 19 August 2013. Mohammad Ali Najafi, nominated for education minister, was regularly attacked for his position on the 2009 election protests and for being a senior adviser to Mehdi Karroubi, the Reformist candidate who is currently under house arrest for contesting the results of the 2009 elections. ... In order for a nominee to be approved, he needs to receive at least half plus one of the 290 total votes.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  12. ↑ "Iran politics: Rowhani takes a centre line in his cabinet nominees". ViewsWire. 8 August 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  13. ↑ "AP". newsroom.ap.org. Retrieved 17 June 2025.
  14. ↑ "Rowhani names Fani as caretaker of education ministry". Jamejam Online. 18 August 2013. Archived from the original on 24 October 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  15. ↑ "Rouhani accepts Najafi's resignation". Tabnak. 30 January 2014. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  16. ↑ Maryam Qarehgozlou (21 July 2017). "Final line-up for post of Tehran mayor revealed". Tehran Times. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  17. ↑ "Incoming City Council Elects Najafi as Tehran Mayor", Tasnim News Agency, 10 August 2017, 1488155, retrieved 10 August 2017
  18. ↑ "Tehran City Council Names Caretaker Mayor", Tasnim News Agency, 27 August 2017, 1502807, retrieved 27 August 2017
  19. ↑ "Tehran Mayor Takes Office", Financial Tribune, 29 August 2017, 1502807, retrieved 29 August 2017
  20. ↑ Former Mayor's Life Is Spared As Family Of His Murdered Wife Pardons Him, Radio Farda, August 14, 2019.
  21. ↑ "Tehran Mayor's Resignation Accepted Under Judiciary's Pressure," Radio Farda, Apr 10, 2018.
  22. ↑ "As Tehran Mayor Insists On Resignation, Many Attribute It To Political Pressure ," Radio Farda, April 4, 2018.
  23. ↑ "Tehran’s Mayor Watched a Dance Recital. Now He’s the Ex-Mayor.," The New York Times, March 14, 2018.
  24. 1 2 "Family Spares Ex-Tehran Mayor Facing Death over Wife's Murder", Asharq Al Awsat, 14 August, 2019.
  25. ↑ Erdbrink, Thomas (12 March 2018). "Tehran's Mayor Watched a Dance Recital. Now He's the Ex-Mayor". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  26. 1 2 "Former Mayor Of Tehran Released After Conviction For Wife's Murder". Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. 28 August 2019. Retrieved 7 August 2025.
  27. ↑ "Former Mayor of Tehran Is Sentenced to Death in Wife’s Killing," The New York Times, July 31, 2019 .
  28. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Tehran Ex-Mayor who Killed Wife Free on Bail," Asharq Al-Awsat, 28 August 2019.
  29. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Former Tehran Mayor Pays $650 Thousand Compensation For Killing His Wife," Radio Farda, May 4, 2020.
  30. ↑ "Former high-profile Iranian official admits to murdering wife," Al-Jazeera, 29 May 2019.
  31. ↑ "Murder Puts An End To Iranian Politician's Career, Marks People's Distrust Of Official Media ," Radio Farda, May 29, 2019.
  32. ↑ "Ex-Vice President of Iran Confesses to Murder of Wife". Iran Front Page. 28 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  33. ↑ "محمدعلی نجفی' به قتل همسرش اعتراف کرده است'". BBC Persian. 28 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  34. 1 2 Former Mayor Of Tehran Released After Conviction For Wife's Murder
  35. ↑ "Former Tehran Mayor Who Murdered Wife Attends Official Meeting ," Iran Wire, April 17, 2025.

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