Maurice Motamed

Maurice Motamed ( Persian موریس معتمد; * 1945 ) is an Iranian politician of Jewish faith who represented Iranian Jews in Parliament from 2000 to 2008. He was succeeded by Ciamak Moresadegh . Since the Constitutional Revolution of 1906, the Jewish minority has been entitled to a seat in parliament. As a result of the parliamentary elections in Iran in 2012 , the Jews have three MPs, the remaining four religious minorities a total of 11.

Working life

Maurice Motamed was first elected to the Iranian parliament in 2000; his mandate was confirmed in 2004. During a visit to the United States , he assured that the majority of the approximately 25,000 Iranian Jews are better off than the majority of the non-Jewish Iranian population. He also invited the Iranian Jews living in exile to return to Iran. He campaigned widely for the rights of Jews and Christians in Iran.

He defends the official Iranian position on the nuclear program . This is to demonstrate the support of the Iranian Jews for the Islamic Republic. To what extent this statement actually corresponds to his opinion is controversial, since the interview in which this statement was made took place under questionable framework conditions. Motamed is also a member of the Energy Commission of the Majlis .

Maurice Motamed protested against the anti-Israeli statements and the Holocaust conference convened by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad :

"You can criticize the Israeli government or not recognize the State of Israel, but to abuse the Holocaust victims for political purposes is just very sad."

He also criticized the broadcast of anti-Jewish programs from Iran. Motamed also works as a civil engineer and urban planner . His mother and four sisters live in Los Angeles .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Pooya Dayanim: Imagine being a Jew in Iran. In: The Iranian. March 12, 2003, accessed December 9, 2008 . 
2. ↑ Ulrich Pick: Critique of the "Holocaust Conference". In: tagesschau.de. December 11, 2006, accessed December 9, 2008 .