Abdollah Nouri

---

title: "Abdollah Nouri" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1950-births", "living-people", "amnesty-international-prisoners-of-conscience-held-by-iran", "government-ministers-of-iran", "iranian-reformists", "members-of-the-expediency-discernment-council", "iranian-shia-clerics", "association-of-combatant-clerics-politicians", "tehran-councillors-1999–2003", "chairmen-of-city-council-of-tehran", "iranian-newspaper-publishers-(people)", "heads-of-reformist-fractions-in-islamic-consultative-assembly", "iranian-prisoners-and-detainees", "executives-of-construction-party-politicians", "members-of-the-2nd-islamic-consultative-assembly", "members-of-the-5th-islamic-consultative-assembly", "impeached-iranian-officials-removed-from-office", "iranian-politicians-convicted-of-crimes", "vice-presidents-of-iran", "islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps-clerics", "20th-century-newspaper-founders", "political-prisoners-in-iran"] description: "Iranian cleric and politician" topic_path: "science/biology" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdollah_Nouri" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Iranian cleric and politician ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Abdollah Noori
native_name
native_name_lang	fa
image	Abdullah Nouri.jpg
birth_date
birth_place	Isfahan, Iran
order	Chairman of City Council of Tehran
term_start	29 April 1999
term_end	11 September 1999
successor	Abbas Douzdouzani
deputy	Saeed Hajjarian
order1	Vice President of Iran
for Development and Social Affairs
term_start1	21 June 1998
term_end1	5 November 1998
president1	Mohammad Khatami
order2	Minister of the Interior
term_start2	20 August 1997
term_end2	21 June 1998
president2	Mohammad Khatami
predecessor2	Ali Mohammad Besharati
successor2	Mostafa Tajzadeh (acting)
term_start3	29 August 1989
term_end3	16 August 1993
president3	Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
predecessor3	Ali Akbar Mohtashamipur
successor3	Ali Mohammad Besharati
office4	Member of the Parliament of Iran
term_start4	28 May 1996
term_end4	14 August 1997
constituency4	Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat and Eslamshahr
majority4	448,874 (31.3%)
term_start5	28 May 1984
term_end5	28 May 1988
constituency5	Isfahan
majority5	102,248 (64.8%)
party	Association of Combatant Clerics
otherparty	Executives of Construction Party (affiliate non-member)
relatives	Alireza Noori (brother)
branch	Revolutionary Guards
serviceyears	1989
commands	Supreme leader's representative
::

| honorific-prefix = | name = Abdollah Noori | honorific-suffix = | native_name = | native_name_lang = fa | image = Abdullah Nouri.jpg | birth_date = | birth_place = Isfahan, Iran

| order = Chairman of City Council of Tehran | term_start = 29 April 1999 | term_end = 11 September 1999 | successor = Abbas Douzdouzani | deputy = Saeed Hajjarian

| order1 = Vice President of Iran for Development and Social Affairs | term_start1 = 21 June 1998 | term_end1 = 5 November 1998 | president1 = Mohammad Khatami | order2 = Minister of the Interior | term_start2 = 20 August 1997 | term_end2 = 21 June 1998 | president2 = Mohammad Khatami | predecessor2 = Ali Mohammad Besharati | successor2 = Mostafa Tajzadeh (acting) | term_start3 = 29 August 1989 | term_end3 = 16 August 1993 | president3 = Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani | predecessor3 = Ali Akbar Mohtashamipur | successor3 = Ali Mohammad Besharati | office4 = Member of the Parliament of Iran | term_start4 = 28 May 1996 | term_end4 = 14 August 1997 | constituency4 = Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat and Eslamshahr | majority4 = 448,874 (31.3%) | term_start5 = 28 May 1984 | term_end5 = 28 May 1988 | constituency5 = Isfahan | majority5 = 102,248 (64.8%) | party = Association of Combatant Clerics | otherparty = Executives of Construction Party (affiliate non-member) | alma_mater = | occupation = | relatives = Alireza Noori (brother) | branch = Revolutionary Guards | serviceyears = 1989 | commands = Supreme leader's representative | website = Abdollah Noori Hosseinabadi ( ) is an Iranian Shia cleric and reformist politician. Despite his "long history of service to the Islamic Republic," he became the most senior Islamic politician to be sentenced to prison since the Iranian Revolution, when he was sentenced to five years in prison for political and religious dissent in 1999. He has been called the "bête noire" of Islamic conservatives in Iran.

Noori is a senior member of Association of Combatant Clerics, and also close ally of the Executives of Construction Party.

Career

Abdollah Nouri was called a "trusted lieutenant" of Ayatollah Khomeini who was "the religious guide to the Revolutionary Guards early in the revolution." Khomeini appointed him as his representative to many other important organizations as well. Khomeini's successor, supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also appointed him a member "of a powerful council which advises him on major policies". However, Abdollah Nouri also supported dissident cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, who was placed under house arrest in 1997 for questioning the authority of Ayatollah Khamenei.

Nouri served as minister of interior for four years in then-President Hashemi Rafsanjani's first term cabinet. He also served as the minister of interior in Mohammad Khatami's first term cabinet until his impeachment by the conservative-controlled 5th Majlis for his "defence of political and social freedoms." Following his impeachment, Khatami brought Abdullah Nouri back to his cabinet as a vice president. He was "generally seen as the most outspoken reformist" in Khatami's cabinet.

In February 1999, he stood down from this post to take part in the municipal elections in February and was elected as the chief of the City Council of Tehran.

He resigned from the Council in order to participate in the sixth parliamentary election. He founded a newspaper and named it Khordad, named after the victory of President Khatami on the 2nd of Khordad, 1376 by the Iranian calendar, equivalent to 23 May 1997. His newspaper advocated "freedom of expression, human rights and a modern and democratic Islam."

Trial

Based on the contents of this newspaper, Nouri was accused of insulting Islamic values by pushing for democratic reforms, dishonoring Imam Ruhollah Khomeini's memory by questioning the authority of the Supreme Leader. According to a Western journalist, another explanation for his prosecution was that Nouri was very popular in Tehran and "the odds on favorite to become Speaker of Parliament in the February 2000 Parliamentary election," something imprisonment would prevent.

He was tried by the Special Clerical Court in Iran and made an "outspoken and aggressive defense during his trial", refusing to accept the authority of this court, which he saw as unconstitutional.

On 27 November 1999, he was convicted of insulting Ayatollah Khomeini, publishing anti-religious materials, disturbing public opinion, insulting officials, advocating links with the United States and was sentenced to five years in jail.

Readers of the Iranian voted him the most significant Iranian personality of 1999.

Release

Nouri was released from prison on 5 November 2002. He was released because his brother Alireza Noori, a member of parliament at the time, was killed in an accident. Noori was freed from Evin Prison when Mehdi Karroubi, speaker of the Majlis at the time, wrote a letter to the Supreme Leader and asked him to free Noori as his father was suffering from the loss of his other son.

Abdollah Nouri was mentioned as a possible candidate in the 2009 presidential election, but did not run.

Analysis

He is considered as one of the leading pragmatists among reformers, though his policies were aligned with Khomeini's doctrines.

References

References

1. David Lea. (2001). "A Political Chronology of the Middle East". Psychology Press.
2. (7 November 1998). "Abdollah Nouri Reportedly Resigns". [[Tehran Times]].
3. [http://rc.majlis.ir/fa/parliament_member/show/761755 Members] {{Webarchive. link. (19 September 2016 Iranian Parliament.)
4. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/539470.stm Profile of Abdollah Nouri. BBC News]
5. [http://www.roozonline.com/english/archives/2008/08/abdollah_nouris_two_conditions.html Abdollah Nouri’s Two Conditions for Candidacy]{{dead link. (June 2017)
6. (2007). "The Columbia World Dictionary of Islamism". Columbia University Press.
7. Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Iran: The National Kargozaran-Sazandegi Party; political view, its leaders, branches, and participation in any election in Iran (1998), 19 February 2002, IRN38586.E, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df4be498.html [accessed 19 March 2017]
8. Muhammad Sahimi. (12 May 2009). "The Political Groups". Tehran Bureau.
9. Sciolino, Elaine ''Persian Mirrors: the Elusive Face of Irans'', Free Press, 2000, 2005 p. 307-8
10. [https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/010/2002/en Iran: Abdollah Nouri, prisoner of conscience]
11. Shea, Nina. (26 January 2009). ""Insulting Islam": One Way Street in the Wrong Direction". Hudson Institute.
12. [http://www.iranian.com/Features/2000/March/IOY/nouri.html Iran's Galileo]
13. (n.d.). "Iran: Abdollah Nouri's release welcomed, but all prisoners of conscience must also be released". Amnesty International.
14. David Menashri. (2001). "post revolutionary politics in iran". Frank Cass.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::