Association of Combatant Clerics

History

The Association of Combatant Clerics was founded in 1987 after abolition of the Islamic Republican Party, the last political party of that time. The association was originally radical, populist, rather than reformist in orientation, and favored a focus "on exporting the revolution and calling for the state's monopoly over the economy," rather than democracy and freedom of expression. As of 2007, it advocated limits on clerical power in Iranian politics and extending individual freedoms—though not to the extent that might "lead to secularism or liberalism."

After the resignation of Mehdi Karroubi from the post of secretary general, the party had no secretary general until late August 2005, when Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha was elected as the new secretary general. Former President of Iran Mohammad Khatami is the Chairman of the association's Central Council.

Members

According to Muhammad Sahimi, the party "has a significant number of followers and sympathizers among the younger clerics".

Central council members

28 members of the party's central council are:

Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha (Secretary-General)

Majid Ansari (Speaker)

Mohammad Khatami (Head of Council)

Mohammad Hashemi

Hadi Khamenei

Ali Ajam

Mohammad-Ali Abtahi

Mohammad-Ali Ansari

Mohammad Mousavi-Bojnourdi

Issa Velayi

Mohammad Razavi

Seyyed Mohammad Hashemi

Ali-Akbar Ashtiani

Mohammad-Ali Khosravi

Taqi Durchih'i

Serajeddin Mousavi

Ali Mohammad Dastgheib Shirazi

Fazel Ferdosi

Ali-Asghar Rahmani Khalili

Assadollah Kian-Ersi

Mohammad Moghaddam

Mojtaba Nourmofidi

Mohammad-Ali Nezamzadeh

Mehdi Emam-Jamarani

Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari

Other members

Mehdi Karroubi (former member)

Sadegh Khalkhali (deceased)

Ali Akbar Mohtashamipur (deceased)

Hadi Ghaffari

Rasoul Montajabnia

Abdollah Nouri

Mohammad-Reza Tavassoli (deceased)

Hassan Sane'i

Mahmoud Doayi

Ghodratollah Alikhani

Mohammad-Ali Rahmani