Ahmad Zeidabadi fa, احمد زیدابادی (born 21 July 1965 in Zeidabad,

Sirjan Sirjan ( fa, سيرجان, also Romanized as Sīrjān; formerly Sa‘īdābād) is a city and the capital of Sirjan County, Kerman Province,in the south of Iran. According to the 2016 census, its population was 324,103 in 95,357 families. Sirjan ...

) is an Iranian journalist, academic, writer and political analyst and the secretary general of Office for Strengthening Unity. He is one of the notable figures of the

Iranian reform movement The Reformists ( fa, اصلاح‌طلبان, Eslâh-Talabân) are a political faction in Iran. Iran's "reform era" is sometimes said to have lasted from 1997 to 2005—the length of President Mohammad Khatami's two terms in office. The ...

. Zeidabadi has been arrested multiple times for his journalistic work. In June 2009, shortly after the

Iranian presidential election The President of Iran is the highest official elected by direct, popular vote, although the President carries out the decrees, and answers to the Supreme Leader of Iran, who functions as the country's head of state.(see Article 110 of the constituti ...

, Zeidabadi was arrested and held in conditions which the

World Association of Newspapers The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization made up of 76 national newspaper associations, 12 news agencies, 10 regional press organisations, and many individual newspaper ex ...

called "horrific." In December 2009, Zeidabadi was sentenced to six years in prison. Zeidabadi is the winner of the

World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom Award The Golden Pen of Freedom Award is an annual international journalism award established in 1961, given by the World Association of Newspapers to individuals or organisations. The stated purpose of the award is "to recognise the outstanding action, i ...

for 2010.

Background

Zeidabadi holds a doctorate degree in international relations from Tehran University. His PhD thesis topic was "Religion and Government in Israel". His articles appeared in many newspapers and other media such as Rooz and

BBC Persian BBC Persian ( fa, بی‌بی‌سی فارسی) is the Persian language broadcast station and subsidiary of BBC World Service which conveys the latest political, social, economical and sport news relevant to Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, an ...

. Zeidabadi's professional work as a journalist started when he joined

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 ...

newspaper in 1989. He also worked with

Hamshahri ''Hamshahri'' ( fa, همشهری, "Fellow citizen"; ) is a major national Iranian Persian-language newspaper. History and profile ''Hamshahri'' is published by the municipality of Tehran, and founded by Gholamhossein Karbaschi. It is the first ...

newspaper as well as other reformist newspapers which started being published after Iran's election in 1997. He is the secretary general of Office for Strengthening Unity and is one of the notable figures in

. He is a member of the board of Iran's Journalists' Union. He has always defended ethnic and religious minority rights in his articles and speeches. He also is an expert on Arab-Israeli conflict and has published articles supporting the peace process. His courage and integrity has been admired over the years even by his colleagues who did not share the same political views. In addition to his journalism, Zeidabadi serves on the board of directors of the Society A1of Iranian Journalists and was a member of Advar-e Tahkim Vahdat's policy committee (ATV). He went on to become president of ATV, which is the alumni association of Daftar-e Tahkim Vahdat, the Office for Strengthening Unity, one of Iran's most prominent student organizations and a major pro-democracy force.

Imprisonment

Zeidabadi, ideologically affiliated with Iran's

Melli-Mazhabi The Religious-Nationalists (plural form in fa, ملّی‌مذهبی‌ها, Melli-Mazhabi ha, lit=The Nationalist-Religious Ones) or the National-Religious ( fa, ملّی‌مذهبی, Melli-Mazhabi as an adjective) are terms referring to a Poli ...

(Nationalist-Religious) movement, first became a target of the judiciary when the government cracked down on that and other political movements affiliated with reformist ex-President Mohammad Khatami in 2000. He was subjected to the first of many violations of his right to free expression in the year 2000. He was arrested for 'failure to respond to a court summons' and sentenced to seven months in Evin prison in Tehran, including two months in solitary confinement. He was detained again less than two weeks after his release, this time on allegations of 'conspiring against the government.' Soon after, Speaker of Parliament Mehdi Karroubi intervened on his behalf, and he was released. He was tried again in early 2002 and sentenced to 23 months in prison, which was eventually reduced to 13 months. For the next five years, he was barred from "any public and social activity, including journalism." Zeidabadi, on the other hand, was unfazed, and he went on to provide political commentary on Iran and the region to a number of reformist sources, both online and offline. In June 2009, right after the

, security forces arrested Zeidabadi and took him to prison. The living conditions Zeidabadi endured while in prison prompted him to partake in a hunger strike that was broken by force by security forces. Amnesty International described the conditions of his imprisonment as follows:

Ahmad Zeidabadi, a journalist for Roozonline, an online publication based in Belgium and spokesperson for the Graduates’ Association, was arrested on 21 June. He was held incommunicado until his appearance on 8 August at the second session of the “show trial” (see Chapter 7). His wife was only allowed to visit him in Evin Prison for the first time on 17 August and said that he was in an extremely bad physical and emotional state. She said that Ahmad Zeidabadi told her that he had been held in solitary confinement for 35 days after his arrest in a coffin-like cell only 1.5m long. He had apparently gone on hunger strike for 17 days until doctors convinced him to stop. His wife met him again in mid-September, when he told her that he had been severely beaten during interrogation. In an interview with Radio Farda on 23 September, she said his interrogator told him: “We are ordered to crush you, and if you do not cooperate we can do anything we want with you and if you do not write the interrogation papers, we will force you to eat them.”

In December 2009, the Iranian Judiciary sentenced Zeidabadi to 6 years in prison, 5 years in exile in Gonabad, and lifetime ban on social and political activities in an

in camera ''In camera'' (; Latin: "in a chamber"). is a legal term that means ''in private''. The same meaning is sometimes expressed in the English equivalent: ''in chambers''. Generally, ''in-camera'' describes court cases, parts of it, or process wh ...

court. He is charged with sedition and propaganda against Iran's regime.

Honors and awards

* On 17 December 2009, Zeidabadi won

for 2010. In the award citation, the

said:

"All journalists are aware of the dangers of challenging the autocratic regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the actions of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. Mr Zeid-Abadi has chosen to repeatedly brave them and publicly support reform and the rule of law in Iran. He was sentenced to six years in prison, five years in internal exile in the town of Gonabad and a lifetime writing ban in the wake of the disputed presidential election in June. Mr Zeid-Abadi has refused to give in, despite the horrific conditions in which he is being held, and his courage makes us feel very humble. We hope Mr Zeid-Abadi's sentence will be overturned." * He also won the ''UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize'' in 2011. "The final choice of Ahmad Zeidabadi pays a tribute to his exceptional courage, resistance, and commitment to freedom of expression, democracy, human rights, tolerance, and humanity," according to UNESCO. An independent international jury of 12 media professionals selected Zeidabadi, according to UNESCO. In addition to him, the Prize will be given to the numerous Iranian journalists who are now imprisoned." * The International Press Institute honored Iranian journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi and the independent Turkish news outlet Medyascope.tv as its ''68th World Press Freedom Hero and 2016 Free Media Pioneer'', respectively, on the opening day of the IPI World Congress in Doha, Qatar.

Personal

He takes an anti-government position. He supported reformist candidate

Mehdi Karroubi Mehdi Karroubi ( fa, مهدی کروبی, Mehdi Karrubi, born 26 September 1937) is an Iranian Shia cleric and reformist politician leading the National Trust Party. Following 2009–2010 Iranian election protests, Karroubi was put under house a ...

in the disputed 2009 presidential election.

References

External links