Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani

Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani
Born	(1969-09-20) 20 September 1969 Tehran, Iran
Residence	Oxford, England
Nationality	Iranian
Alma mater	University of Tehran Sharif University of Technology Wolfson College, Oxford
Spouse(s)	Fereshteh Hashemi Bahramani
Children	2 (Foad and Yasin)
Parents	Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Efat Marashi

Mehdi Hashemi Bahramani Rafsanjani (born 20 September 1969) is a businessman and the fourth child of Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former President of Iran.

Early life and education

Rafsanjani was born on 20 September 1969 in Tehran. He attended elementary, junior and high school at the Nikan High School, graduating in 1987. He was accepted at University of Tehran where he majored in Telecommunication, obtaining his B.S in 1992. He earned an M.S degree from Sharif University of Technology in Energy Engineering field and is working on a PhD in Energy Engineering field at Islamic Azad University.

In October 2010, he began studying for a Ph.D. at Wolfson College, Oxford in Oriental studies with a focus on the Iranian constitution.

Bahramani published (translated?) a lexicon related to his field - "Glossary of Energy Terms" (Loghatnam-e-Energy) - from English into Persian. He also published a book consisting mainly of Ayatollah Rafsanjani's diaries from 1983 entitled "Challenge and Peace" (Chalesh-va-Aramesh) - and which is nowadays considered as a referential source for Iranian contemporary authors, politicians and policymakers.^{[citation needed]}

He served in the Iran-Iraq War, saw combat in 1986, and a year later was injured.

He is married to his cousin Fereshteh Hashemi Bahramani (daughter of late Ghasem Hashemi Bahramani), and they have two sons, Foad and Yasin.

Responsibilities

Mohammad Goodarzi established Engineering Company of Marine Equipment and Construction in 1994 which is an attaché' to the Ministry of Petroleum and took charge of its management. He undertook the management of Gas Export in the Petroleum Ministry in 1999, and after the establishment of Fuel Consumption Optimizing Organization in 2000 assumed its responsibility.

He was in charge of his father's political campaign in the ninth presidential elections in 2005 and now he is the head of Islamic Azad University Research Center and the Board of Trustees.

Bribery allegations

In 2007 authorities in France arrested the CEO and other officers of the giant oil company Total S.A. on charges that Total had bribed Iranian officials. From 1997 to 2003, Total paid out €60,000,000 ($80,000,000) for a favorable contract in the PSEEZ off-shore natural gas field. Much of this money was allegedly paid into bank accounts controlled by Mehdi Rafsanjani, then head of the state-owned company Gaz Iran.

Mehdi denied this allegation, and threatened the newspapers which reported it with prosecution.

In the 2009 Iran poll protests trial, a defendant (Hamzeh Karami) accused Mehdi of spending assets of the Iranian Fuel Conservation Organization to finance his father's 2005 campaign. Mehdi questioned the credibility of the confession pointing out that Karami "stood trial on Tuesday without a defense attorney after having spent over 70 days in solitary", and accused president Ahmadinejad of embezzling a far larger amount "that went missing from the Tehran governor’s office in 2005." The trial has been widely condemned in both Iran and elsewhere as a "show trial" employing coerced confessions.

Rafsanjani returned to Iran from exile to answer charges of inciting unrest after a disputed election in 2009, fuelling speculation that Rafsanjani's influence in Tehran may once again be growing.

External links

Academic misconduct by Iranian Politicians: [1], [2], [3]