Mohammad-Javad Bahonar (, 5 September 1933 – 30 August 1981) was an Iranian theologian and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Iran for less than one month, in August 1981. On 30 August, Bahonar and other members of Mohammad-Ali Rajai's government were assassinated by Mujahideen-e Khalq.
Early life
Mohammad Javad Bahonar was born on 3 September 1933 in Kerman, Iran. His father was a simple tradesman and had a little shop in the city of Kerman. He was the second child of nine in a very poor family. As a child, he was taught the Quran at the local Makk-tab-Khaneh (parochial school attended by the students very often at the house of local mullah before national school system was put in place) also learning to read and write in Persian. Guided by the Ayatollah Haghighi, he studied at the Masoumieh seminary. At the same time he could obtain the degree of fifth of ancient school.
Education
Bahonar passed his primary school at Masoumieh School of Kerman. In 1953, he went to Qom Seminary and attended in the class of Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iranian revolution. Also, he was faculty member of the Tehran University and taught theology.
Revolutionary activities
Before Iranian revolution
Bahonar was a reviler of the Pahlavi dynasty and had activities against Mohammad Reza Shah that led to his imprisonment in 1963, Bahonar along with Morteza Motahari was active speaker of Hosseiniyeh Ershad, a religious lecture hall in the Tehran.
He became a founding member of the Islamic Republican party and an original member of the Council of Revolution of Iran. He was also a member of the Assembly of Experts.
Assassination
Bahonar was assassinated along with Rajai and other members of the Islamic Republican Party when a bomb exploded at the party's office in Tehran on 30 August 1981. Keshmiri was identified as an operative of Mujahedin that was supported by Saddam Hussein. Various MEK supporters were arrested and executed in reprisal, but Kashmiri apparently slipped through the dragnet. The reaction to both bombings was intense with many arrests and executions of MEK and other leftist groups.
See also
- Mohammad-Reza Bahonar, his brother
- Mohammad Beheshti