Hossein Marashi

Hossein Marashi حسین مرعشی
Marashi in August 2014

Head of Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization
In office 2 June 2003 – 4 August 2005
President	Mohammad Khatami
Preceded by	Mohammad Beheshti
Succeeded by	Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei
Chief of Staff of the President of Iran
In office 2 September 1989 – 20 August 1997
President	Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Preceded by	Hamid Sepehri
Succeeded by	Mohammad-Ali Abtahi
Personal details
Born	(1958-11-17) 17 November 1958 Rafsanjan, Iran
Political party	Executives of Construction
Religion	Shia Islam

Hossein Marashi ( حسین مرعشی; born 17 November 1958 in Rafsanjan) is an Iranian politician. He served as the Iranian Vice President for Cultural Heritage and Tourism from 2003 to 2005. Prior to that, Marashi represented Kerman in the Iranian parliament. He strongly backed opposition candidate Mousavi in the 2009 Iranian election.^[1] Mr Marashi is also reportedly a close ally of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, another former president.^[2] He has been speaker of the Executives of Construction Party.

He was the head of the province of Kerman for nearly nine years. He founded a charity by the name of Kerman Molal-Movahedin Non-Profit Institute, which owns Mahan Air, an Iranian airline. In 2011, the charity was involved in a scandal when it was accused of buying airplanes on behalf of Mahan Air. The airline had been facing sanctions by the United States Department of the Treasury for allegedly transporting weapons and advisors to troubled areas such as Syria and Yemen. The claim that firm had any connection with these political actives was denied by members of its board, and Marashi himself.^[3]^[4]

As the head of Cultural Heritage Organization of Iran, Marashi increased the budget of the organization. However, some of Marashi's opponents believe that he was responsible for the disappearance of invaluable historical pieces, and the destruction of historical buildings. These opponents claim that despite public pressure, he never took any action to stop the destruction of historical artifacts. Marashi supported the construction of the controversial Sivand Dam in the territory of Pasargadae The dam was constructed in proximity to the ancient city, and experts believe that if the dam burst, it could destroy several UNESCO World Heritage Sites.^[5]

On March 19, 2010 it was announced that Marashi had been jailed by the Iran, when a court of appeals upheld his one-year prison term. He was released from prison earlier than that, on January 25, 2011.^[6]

Marashi is a cousin of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's wife.

References

↑ BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8576834.stm
↑ BBC Mr Marashi is also reportedly a close ally of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former president.
↑ https://www.nbad.com/content/dam/NBAD/documents/Business/market-insights/middle-east-african-monitor/may2015/12-05-2015.pdf
↑ http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b84920ce-f7d1-11e4-9beb-00144feab7de.html
↑ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/dec/23/iran.artsnews
↑ Marashi Jailed BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8576834.stm

External links

Political offices
Preceded by Hamid Sepehri	Chief of Staff of the President of Iran 1989–1997	Succeeded by Mohammad-Ali Abtahi
Preceded by Mohammad Beheshti	Head of Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization 2003–2005	Succeeded by Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei

Cabinet of President Mohammad Khatami (1997–2005)

Cabinet

Minister of Foreign Affairs	Kamal Kharrazi (1997–2005)

Minister of Agriculture**	Isa Kalantari (1997–2000)

Minister of Jihad of Construction**	Mohammad Saeedikia (1997–2000)

Ministry of Jihad of Agriculture**	Mahmoud Hojjati (2000–2005)

Minister of Post, Telegraph and Telephone	Mohammad Reza Aref (1997–2000) Ahmad Motamedi (2000–2005)

Minister of Labour and Social Affairs	Hossein Kamali (1997–2001) Safdar Hosseini (2001–2004) Nasser Khaleghi (2004–2005)

Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance	Attaollah Mohajerani (1997–2000) Ahmad Masjed-Jamei (2000–2005)

Minister of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics	Ali Shamkhani (1997–2005)

Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance	Hossein Namazi (1997–2001) Tahmasb Mazaheri (2001–2004) Safdar Hosseini (2004–2005)

Minister of Education	Hossein Mozaffar (1997–2001) Morteza Haji (2001–2005)

Minister of Energy	Habibolah Bitaraf (1997–2005)

Minister of Health and Medical Education	Mohammad Farhadi (1997–2001) Masoud Pezeshkian (2001–2005)

Minister of Mines and Metals***	Eshaq Jahangiri (1997–2000)

Minister of Industries***	Gholamreza Shafeei (1997–2000)

Minister of Industries and Mines***	Eshaq Jahangiri (2000–2005)

Minister of Intelligence	Ghorbanali Dorri Najafabadi (1997–1998) Ali Younesi (1998–2005)

Minister of Interior	Abdollah Nouri (1997–1998) Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari (1998–2005)

Minister of Justice	Mohammad Ismaeil Shooshtari (1997–2005)

Minister of Petroleum	Bijan Namdar Zanganeh (1997–2005)

Minister of Roads and Transportation	Mahmoud Hojatti (1997–2001) Rahman Dadman (2001) Ahmad Khorram (2001–2004) Mohammad Rahmati (2004–2005)

Commerce	Mohammad Shariatmadar (1997–2005)

Minister of Science, Research and Technology	Mostafa Moeen (1997–2003) Jafar Towfighi (2003–2005)

Minister of Welfare and Social Security****	Mohammad Hossein Sharifzadegan (2004–2005)

Ministry of Cooperatives	Morteza Haji (1997–2001) Ali Soufi (2001–2005)

Ministry of Housing and Urban Development	Ali Abdolalizadeh (1997–2005)

Cabinet-level

First Vice President	Hassan Habibi (1997–2001) Mohammad Reza Aref (2001–2005)

Chief of Staff	Mohammad-Ali Abtahi (1997–2001) Ali Khatami (2001–2005)

Vice President and Head of Atomic Energy Organization	Gholam Reza Aghazadeh (1997–2005)

Vice President and Head of Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Tourism Organization	Mohammad Beheshti Shirazi (1997–2003) Hossein Marashi (2003–2005)

Vice President and Head of Environmental Protection Organization	Masoumeh Ebtekar (1997–2005)

Vice President and Head of Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs	Hossein Dehghan (2002–2005)

Vice President and Head of Management and Planning Organization of Iran	Mohammad-Ali Najafi (1997–2000) Mohammad Reza Aref (2000–2001) Mohammad Sattarifar (2001–2004) Hamidreza Baradaran-Shoraka (2004–2005)

Vice President and Head of Physical Education Organization	Mostafa Hashemitaba (1997–2001) Mohsen Mehralizadeh (2001–2005)

Vice President for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs	Mohammad-Ali Abtahi (2001–2004) Majid Ansari (2004–2005)

* Acting
**Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Jihad of Construction merged, forming Ministry of Jihad of Agriculture
***Ministry of Industries and Ministry of Mines and Metals merged, forming Ministry of Industries and Mines
****established in 2004

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