Mohammad Sarafraz ( fa, محمد سرافراز) is an Iranian media executive who was head of

Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB; fa, صدا و سيمای جمهوری اسلامی ايران, ''Sedā va Sīmā-ye Jomhūri-ye Eslāmi-ye Īrān'', , formerly called National Iranian Radio and Television until the Iranian rev ...

(IRIB) from 2014 until his resignation in 2016. He was the 6th Director-General of the IRIB and succeeded Ezatollah Zarghami on November 10, 2014.Sarafraz will taking as IRIB head on 10 November 2014
/ref> He holds a

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

political sciences Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

from

Saint Joseph University Saint Joseph University of Beirut ( French: ''Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth'', abbreviated to and commonly known as "USJ") is a private Catholic research university located in Beirut, Lebanon, which was founded in 1875 by French Jesuit mis ...

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

and MA from

Imam Sadiq University The Imam Sadiq University is an Islamic private university in Tehran, Iran. Established in 1982, the goal of the university is to bridge the gap between Islamic researches and modern studies, especially humanities. Imam Sadiq was established on ...

. He is active in IRIB since 1993 in different posts and played a crucial role in launching

Press TV Press TV (stylised as PRESSTV) is an Iranian state-owned news network that broadcasts in the English and French languages owned by Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), the only organization legally able to transmit radio and TV broadc ...

, Hispan TV,

al-Alam ''Al-Alam'' ( ar, العَلم, lit=The Flag) is an arabophone Moroccan daily newspaper. History and profile ''Al Alam'' was founded in September 1946. The paper, based in Rabat, is the organ of the nationalist Nationalism is an idea a ...

and

iFilm iFilm is a discontinued U.S.-based video-sharing website on which users could upload, share and view videos. It was founded by filmmaker Raphael Raphael in 1997. It was later acquired by iFilm.net, a popular online interactive film and media arch ...

television channels.

Careers in IRIB

Sarafraz was active in the

(IRIB) from 1993 and holds the position of Deputy Director-General in Foreign Affairs since 1995, being appointed by then Director-General

Mohammad Hashemi Rafsanjani Mohammad Hashemi Rafsanjani ( fa, محمد هاشمی رفسنجانی; born 29 August 1942) is an Iranian politician who was a member of the Expediency Discernment Council from 1997 to 2012. He served as vice president in charge of executive aff ...

. He played a crucial role in launching

HispanTV HispanTV is an Iranian Spanish language news channel operated by IRIB, Iran's state-controlled broadcaster. It began broadcasting in December 2011. HispanTV's programming has been distributed in Venezuela, Spain, Argentina, Cuba and other countr ...

and

television channels. On 1 November 2014, Sarafraz became new director-general of

IRIB The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB; fa, صدا و سيمای جمهوری اسلامی ايران, ''Sedā va Sīmā-ye Jomhūri-ye Eslāmi-ye Īrān'', , formerly called National Iranian Radio and Television until the Iranian rev ...

, succeeding

Ezzatollah Zarghami Sayyid Ezzatollah Zarghami ( fa, سید عزت‌الله ضرغامی) is Iranian conservative politician and current minister of Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism. He is a former military officer. Zarghami was Deputy of Mi ...

. He officially takes office on 10 November. On 11 May 2016, he resigned from his post due to illness.

Controversy

In 2013, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

adopted restrictive measures against Sarafraz and recognized him as being associated with violating

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

and working with the Iranian security services and prosecutors to broadcast forced confessions of detainees.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sarafraz, Mohammad 1961 births Living people Saint Joseph University alumni People from Tehran Press TV people