Mohammad Khatami (IRN)

is an Iranian scholar and politican. During his presidency 1997-2005 and as Minister of Culture in Iran in the 1980s and 1990s he was regarded as an advocate of freedom of expression, tolerance and civil society. He received a B.A. in Western philosophy at the Isfahan University and studied Islamic sciences at the Universities of Tehran and Qom. His research focus is on political philosophy and his works include books in Persian, Arabian and English: From the World to the Polis to the Polis of the World; Faith and Though Trapped by Despotism (Persian); Islam, Liberty and Development (English); A Study of Religion, Islam and Time; and City of Politics (titles roughly translated from Arabian).