Supreme Leader Appoints Ali Akbar Velayati as Head of Founding Board of Azad University

The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic appointed Ali Akbar Velayati as the head of the founding board of Azad University. Previously, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani held this position. This decree was issued on Thursday, January 30, and published in Iranian media on Friday, January 31. According to ISNA news agency, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stated in this decree that the charter of Azad University, which was approved by the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, is 'silent' on how to select the head of the founding board of this university. He emphasized that due to what he described as the 'lack of impact' of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former head of the founding board of Azad University, and the 'necessity to expedite' the selection of a successor, Mr. Velayati was appointed to this position 'so that there is no interruption' in the administration of this university. The Supreme Leader also stated that he has a 'serious expectation' for the members of the founding board and the board of trustees of Azad University and the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution to 'cooperate' in completing the members of the founding board and the board of trustees of this university. Ali Akbar Velayati has served as Foreign Minister in the governments of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mir Hossein Mousavi and is an international affairs advisor to the Supreme Leader. After Hassan Rouhani was elected president, he succeeded Mr. Rouhani as the head of the Strategic Research Center of the Expediency Discernment Council. The Supreme Leader's decree comes amid ongoing disputes over the ownership and management of Azad University, which have been a point of contention between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani since 2009. The board of trustees of Azad University announced in a statement on September 7, 2009, that 'all movable and immovable properties of Azad Islamic University have been endowed.' In contrast, the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, chaired by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, amended the charter of Azad Islamic University on April 24, 2010, and issued it for implementation. According to this charter, Azad University was defined as an institution with 'public assets,' and the composition of its board of trustees, which selects the president of Azad University, was changed in favor of the government. As the controversies escalated, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed a committee to address this dispute. He eventually announced in mid-October 2010 that the endowment of Azad Islamic University 'has fundamental jurisprudential and legal issues.' The Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution also changed the definition of Azad University from a 'public and non-governmental' institution to a 'non-private and non-governmental' institution in a session on November 2, 2010, chaired by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, stating that 'members of the founding board, board of trustees, and university managers have no ownership or personal benefit rights over the university's assets.' In March 2012, after much contention, Farhad Daneshju, brother of Kamran Daneshju, Ahmadinejad's Minister of Science, succeeded Abdollah Jasbi as president of Azad University. After Hassan Rouhani's government came to power, the board of trustees of Azad Islamic University dismissed Farhad Daneshju on September 18, 2013, and appointed Hamid Mirzadeh as the caretaker of this university.