Hamid Behbahani

Iranian academic and politician (1941–2024)

Hamid Behbahani

Minister of Roads and Transportation
In office 5 August 2008 – 1 February 2011
President	Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Preceded by	Mohammad Rahmati
Succeeded by	Ali Nikzad (Acting)

Personal details
Born	(1941-01-14)14 January 1941 Shiraz, Iran
Died	9 March 2024(2024-03-09) (aged 83)

Hamid Behbahani (Persian: حمید بهبهانی, 14 January 1941 – 9 March 2024) was an Iranian academic and politician who served as minister of roads and transportation from 5 August 2008 to 1 February 2011 when he was impeached by the Parliament of Iran.^[1]^[2]

Early life and education

Behbahani held a BS in civil engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology and a M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Florida.^[3]

Career

Behbahani was the head of the civil engineering department at Iran University of Science and Technology.^[3] He was appointed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as an advisor for transportation affairs. He was also a member of high council of state for reform plan. After the resignation of Mohammad Rahmati from office as minister of transportation on 18 June 2008, Ahmadinejad assigned Behbahani as his candidate for the ministry to the Parliament. He received 181 out of 271 votes of the MPs and became minister of roads and transportation. He continued to serve in the same post in the second cabinet of Ahmadinejad after he was elected as president in 2009.^[3]

Impeachment

On 1 February 2011, 147 out of 234 Members of Parliament gave a vote of no confidence to Behbahani and impeached him for falsely claiming to hold a doctoral degree.^[1]^[4] He is the second minister to be impeached by the Parliament after Ali Kordan who was impeached in 2008.^[5]

Connection with Ahmadinejad

Behbahani was the supervisor of Ahmadinejad during his PhD studies at Iran University of Science and Technology where he was involved in a plagiarism scandal.^[6] In 2009, Nature's investigation suggested that the paper 'Providing a decreasing connection probability model for urban street network' (published in the journal Transport in 2006) co-authored by Hassan Ziari, Behbahani and a PhD candidate named Mohammed Khabiri, "contains large amounts of text from earlier articles by other researchers", considered plagiarism.^[7]

Death

Behbahani died on 9 March 2024, at the age of 83.^[8]^[9]

References

^ ^a ^b "Iran parliament dismisses transport minister". Reuters - via Khaleej Times. 1 February 2011. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
^ "Tehran welcomes ECO train". Tehran Times. 24 August 2009. Retrieved 3 September 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c Glenn, Louisa (1 September 2009). "Background brief: Ahmadinejad's cabinet". National Democratic Institute. Archived from the original on 8 July 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
^ Butler, Declan (9 December 2009). "Plagiarism scandal grows in Iran". Nature. 462 (7274): 704–705. doi:10.1038/462704a. PMID 20010654. S2CID 205051479.
^ "Iran minister impeached over faked degree". CNN. 1 February 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2008.
^ Butler, Declan (9 December 2009). "Plagiarism scandal grows in Iran". Nature. 462 (7274): 704–705. doi:10.1038/462704a. PMID 20010654. S2CID 205051479.
^ Declan Butler (2009), "Iranian ministers in plagiarism row", Nature, 461 (461): 578–579, doi:10.1038/461578a, PMID 19794465, S2CID 4343522
^ Ex-Iranian transport minister Behbahani dies at 83
^ "وزیر دولت احمدی‌نژاد درگذشت". Khabar Online. 9 March 2024. Retrieved 9 March 2024.

Political offices
Preceded by Mohammad Rahmati	Minister of Transportation 2008–2011	Succeeded by Ali Nikzad (acting)

Cabinet of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005–2013)

Cabinet
Minister of Foreign Affairs	Manouchehr Mottaki (2005–2010) Ali Akbar Salehi (2010–2013)
Minister of Agriculture	Mohammad-Reza Eskandari (2005–2009) Sadeq Khalilian (2009–2013)
Minister of Communications and IT	Mohammad Soleimani (2005–2009) Reza Taghipour (2009–2012) Ali Nikzad* (2012–2013) Mohammad-Hassan Nami (2013)
Minister of Labour and Social Affairs	Mohammad Jahromi (2005–2009) Reza Sheykholeslam (2009–2011)
Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance	Hossein Saffar Harandi (2005–2009) Mohammad Hosseini (2009–2013)
Minister of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics	Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar (2005–2009) Ahmad Vahidi (2009–2013)
Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance	Davoud Danesh-Jafari (2005–2008) Hossein Samsami* (2008) Shamseddin Hosseini (2008–2013)
Minister of Education	Ali-Asghar Fani* (2005) Mahmoud Farshidi (2005–2007) Alireza Ali-Ahmadi (2007–2009) Ramezan Mohsenpour* (2009) Hamid-Reza Haji Babaee (2009–2013)
Minister of Energy	Parviz Fattah (2005–2009) Majid Namjoo (2009–2013)
Minister of Health and Medical Education	Kamran Bagheri Lankarani (2005–2009) Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi (2009–2012) Hassan Tarighat Monfared (2012-2013)
Minister of Industries and Mines	Alireza Tahmasbi (2005–2007) Ali Akbar Mehrabian (2007–2011) Mehdi Ghazanfari* (2011)
Minister of Intelligence	Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ezhe'i (2005–2009) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad* (2009) Heydar Moslehi (2009–2013)
Minister of Interior	Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi (2005–2008) Seyyed Mehdi Hashemi* (2008) Ali Kordan (2008) Kamran Daneshjoo* (2008) Sadegh Mahsouli (2008–2009) Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar (2009–2013)
Minister of Justice	Jamal Karimi-Rad (2005–2006) Gholam-Hossein Elham (2006–2009) Morteza Bakhtiari (2009–2013)
Minister of Petroleum	Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh (2005–2007) Gholam-Hossein Nozari (2007–2009) Masoud Mir-Kazemi (2009–2011) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad* (2011) Mohammad Aliabadi* (2011) Rostam Ghasemi (2011–2013)
Minister of Roads and Transportation	Mohammad Rahmati (2005–2008) Hamid Behbahani (2008–2011) Ali Nikzad* (2011)
Minister of Commerce	Masoud Mir-Kazemi (2005–2009) Mehdi Ghazanfari (2009–2011)
Minister of Science, Research and Technology	Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi (2005–2009) Kamran Daneshjoo (2009–2013)
Minister of Welfare and Social Security	Davoud Madadi* (2005) Parviz Kazemi (2005-2006) Ali Yousefpour* (2006) Abdolreza Mesri (2006–2009) Nad-Ali Olfatpour* (2009) Sadegh Mahsouli (2009–2011)
Ministry of Cooperatives	Mohammad Ardakani (2005–2006) Mohammad Abbasi (2006–2011)
Ministry of Housing and Urban Development	Mohammad Saeedikia (2005–2009) Ali Nikzad (2009–2011)
Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports	Mohammad Abbasi (2011–2013)
Minister of Cooperatives, Labour and Welfare	Reza Sheykholeslam (2011–2013) Asadollah Abbasi (2013)
Minister of Industries and Business	Mehdi Ghazanfari (2011–2013)
Minister of Roads and Urban Development	Ali Nikzad (2011–2013)

Cabinet-level
First Vice President	Parviz Davoodi (2005–2009) Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei (2009) Mohammad Reza Rahimi (2009–2013)
Head of President's Office	Gholam-Hossein Elham (2005–2007) Reza Sheykholeslam (2007-2009) Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei (2009–2012) Mir-Hassan Mousavi (2012–2013)
Chief of Staff	Ali Saeedlou (2005–2009) Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei (2009–2011) Hamid Baghaei (2011–2013)
Vice President and Head of Atomic Energy Organization	Gholam Reza Aghazadeh (2005–2009) Ali Akbar Salehi (2009–2010) Mohammad Ahmadian* (2010–2011) Fereydoon Abbasi (2011–2013)
Vice President and Head of Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Tourism Organization	Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei (2005–2009) Hamid Baghaei (2009–2011) Ruhollah Ahmadzadeh (2011–2012) Mir-Hassan Mousavi (2012) Mohammed Sharif Malekzadeh (2012–2013)
Vice President and Head of Environmental Protection Organization	Fatemeh Javadi (2005–2009) Mohammad-Javad Mohammadizadeh (2009–2013)
Vice President and Head of Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs	Hossein Dehghan (2005–2009) Masoud Zaribafan (2009–2013)
Vice President and Head of Management and Planning Organization of Iran	Farhad Rahbar (2005–2006) Amir-Mansour Borgheie (2006–2007)
Vice President for Supervision and Strategic Affairs	Amir-Mansour Borgheie (2007–2009) Ebrahim Azizi (2009–2012) Behrouz Moradi (2012–2013)
Vice President and Head of Physical Education Organization	Mohammad Aliabadi (2005–2009) Ali Saeedlou (2009–2011)
Vice President for Parliamentary and Legal Affairs	Seyyed Ahmad Mousavi (2005–2008) Majid Jafarzadeh* (2008) Mohammad Reza Rahimi (2008–2009)
Vice President for Parliamentary Affairs	Mohammad Reza Mirtajodini (2009–2012) Lotfollah Forouzandeh (2012–2013)
Vice President for Legal Affairs	Fatemeh Bodaghi (2009–2013)
Vice President for Management and Human Resources Development	Amir-Mansour Borgheie* (2007) Ebrahim Azizi (2007–2009) Lotfollah Forouzandeh (2009–2012) Ebrahim Azizi (2012) Gholam-Hossein Elham (2012–2013)
Vice President and Head of National Elites Foundation	Parviz Davoodi (2006–2007) Sadegh Vaez-Zadeh (2007–2009) Nasrin Soltankhah (2009–2013)
Vice President and Head of National Youth Organization	Javad Haj Aliakbari (2005–2009) Mehrdad Bazrpash (2009–2010) Homayoun Hamidi* (2011)
Vice President for Women and Family Affairs	Maryam Mojtahedzadeh (2013)
Vice President for Executive Affairs	Hamid Baghaei (2011–2013)
Vice President for Foreign Affairs	Ali Saeedlou (2011–2013)
Vice President for Enforcing the Constitution	Mohammad Reza Mirtajodini (2012–2013)