Seyyed Ali-Asghar Gharavi ( fa, سید علیاصغر غروی) is an Iranian scholar of religion and political activist affiliated with the
Freedom Movement of Iran
The Freedom Movement of Iran (FMI) or Liberation Movement of Iran (LMI; fa, نهضت آزادی ايران, Nahżat-e āzādi-e Irān) is an Iranian pro-democracy political organization founded in 1961, by members describing themselves as "Muslim ...
.
According to the American magazine ''
In These Times
''In These Times'' is an American politically progressive monthly magazine of news and opinion published in Chicago, Illinois.
It was established as a broadsheet-format fortnightly newspaper in 1976 by James Weinstein, a lifelong socialist.
...
'', he is "one of Iran's most prominent pro-democracy activists and political thinkers".
In 1998, he was arrested and summoned to the
Special Clerical Court
Special Clerical Court, or Special Court for Clerics ( fa, دادگاه ویژه روحانیت) is a special Iranian court system for prosecuting Islamic clergymen and scholars accused of improper activity and conduct unbecoming of a cleric. The ...
for criticizing the regime, despite the fact he is not a cleric.
In 2013, ''
Bahar'' newspaper was banned for publishing an article written by Gharavi, titled “Imam Ali, a Political Leader or a Religious Model?”. He was accused of "
blasphemy" for implicitly challenging Iran's Supreme Leader.
[ Article 19, Beyond Blasphemy: Why Two Iranian Newspapers Were Closed Down, 30 January 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/54cf850e4.html ccessed 2 January 2020]
References
Living people
21st-century Iranian writers
Saint Joseph University alumni
Freedom Movement of Iran politicians
Muslim reformers
Prisoners and detainees of Iran
Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Iran
Iranian male writers
20th-century Iranian writers
1940s births
Members of the Association for Defense of Freedom and the Sovereignty of the Iranian Nation
Members of the National Council for Peace
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