Ali Khan Maragha'i

Ali Khan Maragha'i was a 19th-century Iranian official who served as the farrash-bashi during the early reign of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar.

Biography

Ali Khan was the son of a certain Hossein Khan Moqaddam Maragha'i. He was a member of the Moqaddam tribe of Maragheh, which had assisted the Qajars in their earliest military operations. At a very young age, Ali Khan started working as a golam-bacha under prince Mohammad Mirza during the latters governorship of Maragheh. Following Mohammad Mirza's appointment as heir apparent in 1834, Ali Khan was appointed as his shanduqdar. Mohammad Mirza was crowned as shah later that year, which led to Ali Khan's appointment as the khvansalar. Ali Khan became well known for both his role in the execution of the former prime minister Amir Kabir and his persecution of the early Babis.
In 1865/66, Ali Khan was given the position of wazir-e wazayef va awqaf and in 1866/67 he was additionally given the governorship of Hamadan. He died in Tehran on 1 August 1867 and was buried at Qom. His sons held important government offices; the most well-known was Mohammad Hasan Khan E'temad os-Saltaneh, who wrote a number of important books on Qajar history.