Iran’s First Intelligence Minister Dies

Mohammad Mohammadi Rei Shehri, the first intelligence minister of the Islamic Republic, passed away in the early hours of the first day of the year 1401 (Iranian calendar).

The 76-year-old Mohammad Mohammadinik, known as Rei Shehri, had been hospitalized at Khatam Al-Anbia Hospital in Tehran in recent days due to underlying medical conditions.

As the first intelligence minister of the Islamic Republic, he also served as the prosecutor general of the country, represented three terms in the Assembly of Experts, and held the position of custodian of the shrine of Shah Abdol-Azim.

The arrest of Mehdi Hashemi, brother-in-law of Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri and member of the Supreme Command Council of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, on charges of conspiracy against the senior officials of the Islamic Republic and his subsequent execution, is considered one of the most notable events during Rei Shehri’s tenure as minister.

Following the triumph of the 1978 revolution, Rei Shehri served as the religious judge of the Islamic Revolutionary Courts in Dezful, Behbahan, Gachsaran, Borujerd, Rasht, and Gonbad Kavus, playing a special role in implementing Islamic rulings. For this reason, many consider him one of the executors and agents of the widespread executions in the early years of the revolution and during the 1980s.

He served as prosecutor of the Special Court for the Clergy for 9 years, during which he defrocked many critical clerics.

Rei Shehri competed in the seventh presidential election in 1988 against Mohammad Khatami, Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri, and Reza Zarei, but managed to secure less than 3 percent of the votes.

Source: Voice of America