Emadeddin Baghi
| Emadeddin Baghi | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1962 (age 54–55) |
| Nationality | Iranian |
| Occupation | Journalist, human rights activist |
| Known for | Dissident journalism, imprisonment |
| Spouse(s) | Fatemeh Kamali Ahmad Sarahi |
| Children | Maryam Baghi |
| Awards |
Civil Courage Prize (2004) Martin Ennals Award (2009) |
| Website | http://www.emadbaghi.com/en/ |
Emadeddin Baghi (born 1962) is an Iranian human rights activist, prisoners' rights advocate, investigative journalist, theologian and writer. He is the founder and head of the Committee for the Defense of Prisoners' Rights and the Society of Right to Life Guardians in Iran, and the author of twenty books, six of which have been banned in Iran. Baghi was imprisoned in connection with his writings on the Chain Murders of Iran, which occurred in Autumn 1998, and imprisoned again in late 2007 for another year on charges of "acting against national security." According to his family and lawyers, Baghi has been summoned to court 23 times since his release in 2003. He has also had his passport confiscated, his newspaper closed, and suspended prison sentences passed against his wife and daughter. Baghi was rearrested on 28 December 2009 on charges related to an interview with Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri. Baghi was released and then again rearrested on 5 December 2010.
Baghi was born in 1962. In the years leading up to the 1979 Islamic Revolution, he began to participate as a political activist as an Islamic Reformist, under the mentorship of Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri. After the revolution, he studied theology and sociology in Qom and Tehran, respectively. His journalism career started in 1983, and by the 1990s, Baghi was working as the chief editor of the reformist newspaper Faith.
Baghi and Akbar Ganji are credited with uncovering the responsibility of Iranian security personnel for the Chain Murders, in which a number of dissident intellectuals were found murdered, apparently by a serial killer. Baghi and Ganji both argued that orders for the murders came from high in the Iranian government.
Two newspapers at which Baghi worked were banned by the Iranian government: Faith in 2000, and Joumhouriat in 2003. His books on the Chain Murders were also banned.
Baghi has also written extensively about the death penalty, of which he is an active opponent. The United Nations and other international human rights groups have relied heavily his work, particularly on juveniles sentenced to death, for their own reports. Baghi estimates that more than 10,000 people have been executed in Iran since the Islamic Revolution.
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