Ali Reza Panahian (also Ali-Reza Panahian ; Persian : علیرضا پناهیان ; born 1965 Tehran ) is an Iranian Twelver Shia Scholar and official. He is a Hojatoleslam (a "middle-ranked" Shia cleric) and head of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei 's "think tank for universities." In February 2011 he was among some "70 high-ranking" officials of the Islamic Republic who established an "`Ammar` organization" or "Ammar Headquarters" calling for the "trial and execution" of former presidential candidates and Iranian Green Movement protest leaders Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi . Raja News has listed him as one of 40-odd "students, confidants and political companions" close to most ideological leader Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi .