Mohammad Masud

{{Short description|Iranian journalist (1902–1948)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}} {{Distinguish|Mohammad Mashud}} {{Infobox person | image = | alt =  | caption = | native_name = محمد مسعود | native_name_lang = fa | birth_name = Mohammad Masud Qummi | birth_date = 1905 | birth_place = | death_date = 13 February {{Death year and age|1948|1905}} | death_place = | nationality =  | occupation = Journalist | parents = | spouse = | years_active = 1930s–1948 | known_for = Founder of ''Mard-i Imruz'' | notable_works = }} '''Mohammad Masud''' (1905–1948; Persian: محمد مسعود) was an Iranian journalist and writer. He published some books and launched a weekly newspaper, ''Mard-i Imruz'' (Persian: ''The Man of Today''). He was an ardent critic of the Pahlavi rule and Ahmad Qavam. Masud was assassinated in February 1948.

==Biography== Masud was born in 1905.<ref name=lpes68>{{cite journal|author=Laurence Paul Elwell-Sutton|author-link=Laurence Paul Elwell-Sutton|title=The Iranian Press, 1941-1947|journal=Iran|year=1968|volume=6|page=97|doi=10.2307/4299603|jstor=4299603}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Ali Mirsepassi |title=Iran's Troubled Modernity. Debating Ahmad Fardid's Legacy|year=2018|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|page=340 |doi=10.1017/9781108566124.017|isbn=9781108476393|s2cid=166581491|url=https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108566124.017|author-link=Ali Mirsepassi}}</ref> He went to Belgium to study journalism<ref>{{cite book|author=Liora Hendelman-Baavur|title=Creating the Modern Iranian Woman. Popular Culture between Two Revolutions|year=2019|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url=https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108627993|doi=10.1017/9781108627993 |isbn=9781108627993|location=Cambridge|page=62|s2cid=211433811}}</ref> in 1935 when he was awarded a government scholarship and returned to Iran in 1938 following his graduation.<ref name=cma01>{{cite journal|volume=33|issue=3|title=Selling and Saving "Mother Iran": Gender and the Iranian Press in the 1940s|author=Camron Michael Amin|date=August 2001|doi=10.1017/S0020743801003014|pages=337–338|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|pmid=18159657|s2cid=6159141}}</ref> He applied for a state institution for employment, but his application was denied.<ref name=cma01/> After this incident he became a critic of Reza Shah.<ref name=cma01/>

In 1942 Masud published an autobiography entitled ''Guha'i keh dar Jahannam Miruyand'' (Persian: ''Flowers which Grow in Hell'').<ref name=rout21>{{cite book|title=Language and Literature of the Middle East|publisher=Routledge|year=2021|isbn=978-1-315-45972-1|page=7-PA147 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jt4zEAAAQBAJ&pg=RA7-PA147|location=Abingdon; New York|author=Mohammad M. Aman}}</ref> Next year he published another book, ''Bahar-i Umr'' (Persian: ''The Spring of Life'').<ref name=rout21/> In 1942 he also started his journalism career launching a weekly newspaper entitled ''Mard-i Imruz'' in which he published critical articles and political cartoons which targeted Prime Minister Ahmad Qavam and his cabinet.<ref name=cma01/> Journalist and future foreign minister Hossein Fatemi was one of Masud's close friends who contributed to ''Mard-i Imruz''.<ref>{{cite web|author=Ebrahim Norouzi |title=Dr. Hossein Fatemi Biography|publisher=The Mossadegh Project|date=25 April 2008|url=http://www.mohammadmossadegh.com/biography/hossein-fatemi/|access-date=9 June 2022}}</ref> In October 1947 Masud publicly argued in the paper that Qavam should be murdered due to the oil concession treaty with the Soviet Union.<ref name=cma01/> Homa Katouzian argues that Masud employed his paper to get money from the rich whom he attacked through sensational news about them.<ref name=homa/>

Four months later on 13 February 1948 Masud was assassinated by a squad led by Noureddin Kianouri.<ref name=lpes68/><ref name=homa>{{cite journal|author=Homa Katouzian|title=Private Parts and Public Discourses in Modern Iran|journal=Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East|year=2008|volume=28|issue=2|page=290|doi=10.1215/1089201x-2008-006|url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:f5ba7eb0-109d-4176-b49b-d2bdb53df04d |author-link=Homa Katouzian}}</ref> The group was linked to the Tudeh Party.<ref name=homa/> His assassination was the first of the political killings which continued into the 1950s in Iran.<ref name=homa/>

Hossein Fatemi was delivering a speech in a ceremony for Masud at his grave on 13 February 1952 when he became a target of the assassination attempt by a member of the Fedayan-e Islam.<ref name=hmn>{{cite thesis|author=Hassan Mohammadi Nejad|title=Elite-Counterelite Conflict and the Development of a Revolutionary Movement: The Case of Iranian National Front|degree=PhD|isbn=9798657957457|id={{ProQuest|302536657}}|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/302536657|page=82|year=1970 |location=Southern Illinois University at Carbondale}}</ref> Although he survived this attack, he was severely injured.<ref name=hmn/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Masud, Mohammad}} Category:20th-century Iranian journalists Category:20th-century Iranian writers Category:20th-century Iranian male writers Category:20th-century newspaper founders Category:1905 births Category:1948 deaths Category:Assassinated Iranian journalists Category:Iranian dissidents