Mohammad-Ali Abtahi

Mohammad-Ali Abtahi (Persian: محمدعلی ابطحی‎; born January 27, 1958) is an Iranian theologian, scholar, pro-democracy activist and chairman of the Institute for Interreligious Dialogue. He is a former Vice President of Iran and a close associate of former President Mohammad Khatami. Abtahi is a member of the central council of Association of Combatant Clerics (Majma'e Rowhaniyoon-e Mobarez), the political grouping to which both Khatami and the 2009 presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi (the previous Speaker of Majlis of Iran) belong.