Nasser Minachi


Nasser Minachi was an Iranian activist and founder of Hosseiniyeh Ershad, a modernist Islamic institution. He served as a minister in the Interim Government of Iran after the 1979 revolution.

Career and activities

Minachi was one of the bazaar leaders during the reign of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and cofounded the Hosseiniyeh Ershad, a nontraditional Islamic organization in Tehran. He served as the caretaker of the institution until his death. He was also an opposition leader at that time.
He was appointed tourism minister to the interim government led by Mahdi Bazargan on 4 February 1979. He was also a member of the revolutionary council until November 1979. Then he was made the minister of information and publicity in the same cabinet.
The occupiers of the US embassy in Tehran called for Minachi's arrest while he was serving as information minister. They accused Minachi of being a CIA agent. Minachi was eventually arrested in his home by the militants in early February 1980. He was freed soon with the intervention of Bazargan.
Later Minachi became the minister of culture and national guidance under the presidency of Abolhassan Banisadr.

Death

Mianchi died of heart failure on 25 January 2014 in Tehran. His memorial service was held in the Hosseiniyeh Ershad mosque.