{{Short description|Iranian politician, engineer}} thumb|right|Bahaedin Adab '''Bahaedin Adab''' ({{langx|fa|بهاءالدين ادب}}), also spelled '''Bahaeddin''' or '''Bahaoddin Adab''', Kurdish "Baha Adab" (21 August 1945 – 16 August 2007) was an Iranian Kurdish politician, engineer and philanthropist. A reformist, he served as an independent deputy in the Islamic Consultative Assembly for two terms from 1996 to 2004. He co-founded the Karafarin Bank in 2001 and the Kurdish United Front in 2005.
== Biography == Adab was born in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province, as a son of Baqer, a landowner. He received his master's degree in civil engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnique).<ref name="RZ">{{cite web |url=http://www.radiozamaneh.org/news/2007/08/post_2166.html |title=بهاءالدین ادب نماینده اصلاحطلب سنندج درگذشت |date=25 August 2007 |website=Radio Zamaneh |language=fa |access-date=9 July 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013224031/http://www.radiozamaneh.org/news/2007/08/post_2166.html |archive-date=13 October 2007}}</ref><ref name="PI">{{citation |last1=Boroujerdi |first1=Mehrzad |last2=Rahimkhani |first2=Kourosh |title=Postrevolutionary Iran: A Political Handbook |location=Syracuse, NY |publisher=Syracuse University Press |year=2018 |p=361 |isbn=978-0-8156-3574-1}}</ref>
He was elected to the Majlis of Iran as an independent in the 1996 and 2000 Iranian legislative elections, representing the constituency of {{ill|Sanandaj, Divandarreh and Kamyaran|fa|حوزه انتخابیه سنندج، دیواندره و کامیاران}} (comprising Sanandaj, Kamyaran and Dîwandere) during the fifth and sixth terms of this assembly.<ref name="NM">{{cite news |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2004/02/19/m-adab-elu-et-reelu-depuis-huit-ans-a-ete-exclu_353524_3210.html |title=M. Adab, élu et réélu depuis huit ans, a été exclu |first=Mouna |last=Naïm |date=19 February 2004 |newspaper=Le Monde |access-date=9 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711190924/https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2004/02/19/m-adab-elu-et-reelu-depuis-huit-ans-a-ete-exclu_353524_3210.html |archive-date=11 July 2018 |url-status=live |lang=fr}}</ref><ref name="PI" /><ref name="RZ" /> In 2001, he became one of the founders of Karafarin Bank,<ref name="PI" /> the first private bank to be established since the Iranian Revolution.
He was disqualified by the Guardian Council from participation in the 2004 Iranian legislative election among some 2,500 other independent or reformist candidates. He was accused of not practising Islam, contradicting the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist, having worked for the Pahlavi regime as a member of SAVAK, and of belonging to an illegal political party and to Freemasonry. He rejected the latter charges, affirmed his Islamic faith, and stated that the true reasons had to do with his defence of the rights of the people and his independent-mindedness.<ref name="NM" />
In December 2005, he joined Saleh Nikbakht, {{ill|Abdollah Sohrabi|fa|عبدالله سهرابی (سیاستمدار)}}, Bayezid Mardokhi and Hussain Shah Waysi in founding the Kurdish United Front, a reformist coalition of activists and NGOs based in Sanandaj, and served as its first spokesperson.<ref>{{citation |last=Hassaniyan |first=Allan |title=Kurdish Politics in Iran: Crossborder Interactions and Mobilisation since 1947 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2021 |p=200 |isbn=978-1-316-51643-0 |doi=10.1017/9781009029971}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=بيانية جبهة متحد كرد به مناسبت آغاز سومين سالروز تأسيس |website=Kurdish United Front |date=10 December 2007 |url=http://www.kurduf.com/fa/shownews/news301002.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080118054408/http://www.kurduf.com/fa/shownews/news301002.aspx |archive-date=18 January 2008 |url-status=dead |lang=fa}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Iran Kurds form reformist front |work=Hürriyet |date=3 January 2006 |url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/iran-kurds-form-reformist-front.aspx?pageID=438&n=iran-kurds-form-reformist-front-2006-01-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161127024314/http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/iran-kurds-form-reformist-front.aspx?pageID=438&n=iran-kurds-form-reformist-front-2006-01-03 |archive-date=27 November 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In an interview for the Deutsche Welle, he said that the group aimed to work for democracy, justice and equality, and to enable Kurdish participation in the "pyramid of power".<ref name="RZ" />
Adab served as chairman of the Syndicate of Iranian Construction Contractors, CEO of Abej Construction Company, CEO of Ravagh Construction Company, deputy chairman of the Confederation of Iranian Industries, member of the board of directors of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines & Agriculture, deputy chairman of Karafarin Bank, board member of Karafarin Insurance, chairman of the Association of Engineering and Building Controllers, chairman of Namavaran Mohandessi Investment Company, member of the board of trustees of Amirkabir University of Technology (Polytechnique), and deputy chairman of the Iranian Basketball Federation.
His last position was as a spokesman of the {{ill|International Organisation of Employers|de}}-affiliated<ref>{{cite web |title=Members and Regions |website=International Organisation of Employers |accessdate=17 January 2026 |url=https://www.ioe-emp.org/members-regions}}</ref> Iranian Confederation of Employers' Associations (ICEA),<ref name="RZ" /> founded by Mohammad Otaredian in 1996,<ref>{{cite news |title=New Achievement for Robert's Rules of Order in Iran |website=kadrha.com |date=15 July 2020 |accessdate=17 January 2026 |url=http://www.kadrha.com/spip.php?article223 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806070407/http://www.kadrha.com/spip.php?article223 |archive-date=6 August 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> which the government attempted to dissolve and substitute in late 2006.<ref>{{cite news |title=Rapport intérimaire - Rapport No. 350, Juin 2008. Cas no 2567 (Iran (République islamique d') - Date de la plainte: 24-MAI-07 - Clos |website=International Labour Organization |accessdate=17 January 2026 |url=https://normlex.ilo.org/dyn/nrmlx_fr/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:50002:0::NO::P50002_COMPLAINT_TEXT_ID%2CP50002_LANG_CODE:2910787%2Cen#C |lang=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Individual Case (CAS) - Discussion: 2010, Publication: 99th ILC session (2010). Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) – Iran (Islamic Republic of) (Ratification: 1964) |website=International Labour Organization |accessdate=17 January 2026 |url=https://normlex.ilo.org/dyn/nrmlx_en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:13100:0::NO::P13100_COMMENT_ID%2CP13100_LANG_CODE:2556493%2Cen}}</ref> In an interview for the US-funded Radio Farda in May 2006, he denounced the portrayal of capitalists as "bloodsuckers and parasites" in the Islamic Republic of Iran and appealed to the state to improve legal protection for investors and businesses in the country.<ref>{{cite news |title=Newsline – May 10, 2006 |website=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |date=10 May 2006 |accessdate=17 January 2026 |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1143630.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306183458/https://www.rferl.org/a/1143630.html |archive-date=6 March 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>
He died of stomach cancer on 16 August 2007 in Tehran.<ref name="RZ" /> He was buried in "Bahasht Mhamadi" Behesht-e Mohammadi cemetery in Sanandaj alongside his parents.
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Adab, Bahaedin}} Category:Deaths from cancer in Iran Category:20th-century Iranian businesspeople Category:21st-century Iranian businesspeople Category:Amirkabir University of Technology alumni Category:Iranian bankers Category:Iranian civil engineers Category:Iranian company founders Category:Iranian Kurdish politicians Category:Iranian political party founders Category:Kurdish United Front politicians Category:People from Sanandaj Category:1945 births Category:2007 deaths Category:Islamic Iran Participation Front politicians Category:Members of the 5th Islamic Consultative Assembly Category:Members of the 6th Islamic Consultative Assembly