Ali Reza Nourizadeh ( fa, علیرضا نوری‌زاده, born 24 June 1949 in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

) is an Iranian

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

, literary figure,

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some t ...

and an expert on Iranian contemporary history.

Career

Nourizadeh is a political

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

from Iran. After fleeing to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, he obtained his PhD from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

in International Relations. He is a

monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...

. Nourizadeh himself has been active in the Iranian journalistic milieu since 1967. Before

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

, he was editor of ''

Ettela'at ''Ettela'at'' ( fa, اطلاعات, Ettelâ'ât, ) is a Persian language daily newspaper of record published in Iran. It is among the oldest publications in the country, and the oldest running Persian daily newspaper in the world. The paper has ...

'', a strongly pro-

Shah Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...

Iranian newspaper. After Ali-Reza Pahlavi, youngest son of the Shah, killed himself in 2011 in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Nourizadeh called it "a tragedy for the Iranian people". He is a senior researcher and director at the Centre for Arab & Iranian Studies strongly opposed to the

Islamic Republic of Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. Nourizadeh is also a correspondent for

Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...

, a Political Commentator for the radio channel

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

, a senior writer for the

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based Saudi-owned newspaper

Al-Sharq Al-Awsat ''Asharq Al-Awsat'' ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, Aš-Šarq al-ʾAwsaṭ, meaning "The Middle East") is an Arabic international newspaper headquartered in London. A pioneer of the "off-shore" model in the Arabic press, the paper is often noted ...

. In June 2013, three days after

Hassan Rouhani Hassan Rouhani ( fa, حسن روحانی, Standard Persian pronunciation: ; born Hassan Fereydoun ( fa, حسن فریدون, links=no); 12 November 1948) is an Iranian politician who served as the seventh president of Iran from 2013 to 2021. ...

was elected as

President of Iran The president of Iran ( fa, رئیس‌جمهور ایران, Rayis Jomhur-e Irān) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The president is the second highest-ranking official of Iran after the Supreme Leader. The president i ...

, Israeli news website

Ynetnews Ynet (stylized as ynet) is one of the major Israeli news and general-content websites, and is the online outlet for the '' Yedioth Ahronot'' newspaper. However, most of Ynet's content is original work, published exclusively on the website and wri ...

reported Nourizadeh's claim that Rouhani's son "committed suicide in protest at his father's close connection with Supreme Leader

Ali Khamenei Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei ( fa, سید علی حسینی خامنه‌ای, ; born 19 April 1939) is a Twelver Shia ''marja and the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran, in office since 1989. He was previously the third president o ...

Assassination attempt

Ali Reza Nourizadeh was targeted by Iranian national Mohammad Reza Sadeqinia in 2009 while visiting the British capital, according to a cable from the US embassy in Grosvenor Square. Sadeqinia attempted to hire a hitman to assassinate Iranian-American broadcaster Jamshid Sharmahd, and as a result, he was detained in California on suspicion of soliciting murder. The FBI alerted UK authorities to the threat since his conduct toward Nourizadeh was consistent with his interactions with Sharmahd, and Nourizadeh was subsequently warned. The threat materialized as a result of Nourizadeh's anxiety, which led him to inform the US embassy about his interactions with Sadeqinia.

Personal life

Nourizadeh is also the father of director

Nima Nourizadeh Nima Nourizadeh ( fa, نیما نوری‌زاده; born 12 November 1977) is a British-Iranian film, music video, and commercials director. Nourizadeh is the son of political activist Alireza Nourizadeh and his siblings are electronic music ...

, director of the 2012 film '' Project X'' and the 2015 film ''

American Ultra ''American Ultra'' is a 2015 American action comedy film directed by Nima Nourizadeh and written by Max Landis. The film stars Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Topher Grace, Connie Britton, Walton Goggins, John Leguizamo, Bill Pullman, and To ...

'', and electronic music producers Omid 16B and Navid.

Works and publications

* 1970 - ''Dar Parvandehaye Ghatlhaye Zanjirei'' (Farsi Edition) * 1996 - ''Ba Khoon-e Del Neveshtam با خون دل نوشتم'' (Farsi Edition] * 2001 - ''Sounaye Zafaraniyeh'' (Farsi Edition) * 2002 - ''Fallahian Mardi Baraye Hame-ye Janayat فلاحیان مردی برای تمام فصول جنایت'' (Farsi Edition) * 2012 - ''Folks of Amirieh: Bacheh-Haye Amirieh'' (Persian Edition)

References

External links