Abolfazl Fateh

Abolfazl Fateh is a media expert, medical doctor, journalist and political activist.

Fateh was the director of Islamic Students Association at Tehran University from 1991-1996. On November 4, 1999, he founded the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) to report on news from Iranian universities that later covered a variety of national and international topics. "While taking a reformist view of events, ISNA has managed to remain politically independent. It has, however, maintained its loyalty to the former president and carries a section devoted to "Khatami's perspectives". Fateh was ISNA's managing director until his resignation on 10 October 2005. During his term, ISNA gained recognition among media and elite and became the most influential, prestigious and most referenced news agency in the country, according to official reports so that Iran's former president Mohammad Khatami, as one of its main supporters, during his visit of the agency (December 2004) considered ISNA as one of the most important media achievement of the reform era and one of the best symbols of student movement in Iran.

Abolfazl Fateh was taken to the court on several occasions over the agency's reports. Also, once he was beaten by riot police while supporting his correspondents to report student demonstration in June 2003. According to the Guardian, reformist daily Aftab-e Yazd 14 June 2003, in its Editorial column wrote: "It is not easy to overlook the injury caused to Dr Abolfazl Fateh, the hardworking managing director of the Iranian Students' News Agency, who had come to the scene to ensure an accurate reporting of events and prevent any news distortion by foreign media... [His] greatest concern was that if the people do not receive the news from us, they would do so from our enemies or at best from our competitors.". Later Iran's chief of police apologized for the event as an accident.

Fateh was the head of Mousavi's information and media committee in Iran presidential campaign (2009) and one of the main Musavi's advisor. He was banned (from leaving Iran) because of (his role in) Musavi campaign, but ultimately the ban was lifted. After election, he was mostly silent but he supported Musavi seventeen statement: "Mousavi’s statement is a significant goodwill gesture from his side and an important test for the authorities." Fateh explained that Mousavi had offered a solution based on “goodwill and the minimum expectations of the people”, but this was now the last argument to be put.

...
Wikipedia