Ayatollah Seyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi's Background
10/30/01
Hashemi was born and educated in the Iraqi city of Najaf, a Shiite Moslem stronghold. He came to Iran after 1979, helping to found a Shiite group opposed to the Iraqi government. He was appointed as head of Iran's Judiciary in August 1999. He is a member of both the Assembly of Experts, which has the power to appoint or sack the country's supreme leader, and the Expediency Council, a top advisory body to Khamenei
- 1948: Born in Najaf, Iraq
- 1945: Primary education in Alavi School in Najaf (school for Iranians residing in Najaf)
- 1960: Religious studies in Najaf
- 1974: Arrested by Iraqi regime and held in custody for two months
- 1978: Reaching the degree of Ijtihad (power to issue religious decrees) and its
- approval by Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer Sadr
- 1979: Return to Iran and working as instructor at Qom Seminary
- 1981: Appointed as head of the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq
- 1984: Return to Qom Seminary and resuming his work as an instructor
- 1990: Founding the Institute for Islamic Jurisprudential Encyclopedia
- 1996: Member of the Council of Guardians
- 1998: Member of the Experts Assembly of the Constitution and Expediency Council
- 1999: Appointed as head of Iran's Judiciary
Works: Hokoumat-e Eslami (Islamic Government), Jahanbini Eslami (Islamic world view), articles on jurisprudential subjects, Khoms (Islamic levy on certain things), tens of intellectual articles.