Mohammad Ali Abtahi (left) sitting with Mohammad Reza Khatami in the parliament

Hojjat ol-Eslam Seyyed Mohammad Ali Abtahi (Persian: محمدعلی ابطحی) (born January 28, 1960 in Mashhad) is an Iranian politician, presently an Advisor to the President. He is the first cabinet member in Iran to write a weblog, or have an orkut account.

Abtahi is a member of the central council of Militant Clerics Society (Majma'e Rowhaniyoon-e Mobarez), the political party which both Mohammad Khatami and Mehdi Karroubi (the previous Speaker of Majlis of Iran) belong to.

Abtahi was the Iranian Vice President for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs from September 2, 2001 to October 12, 2004. He had resigned from his post three times after the Iranian Majlis election of 2004, because of "differences in political viewpoints with the paliament's majority", and finally, on October 12, 2004, his resignation was accepted by President Khatami. He was followed by Majead Ansari, a previous representative of Tehran to the Parliament and a member of the same party (Militant Clerics Society).

Before his vice presidency, Abtahi was the Iranian president Mohammad Khatami's Chief of Staff from July 10, 1997 to September 1, 2001. Before that, he had served in various governmental posts, including the President of Iranian Radio , Vice Minister of International Affairs in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, and IRIB's representative in Lebanon.

Abtahi is married to Fahimeh Mousavinezhad (daughter of one of his professors) and has three daughters, named Fa’ezeh, Fatemeh, and Farideh.

He is the nephew of Abdolkarim Hasheminezhad .

External links

• Abtahi's English Weblog
• Abtahi's Persian Weblog
• "Mohammad Ali Abtahi and the cleric community's share from the Internet", by Massoud Behnoud