Mohammad Ghouchani (, born 22 September 1976 in

Rasht Rasht (; ) is a city in the Central District (Rasht County), Central District of Rasht County, Gilan province, Gilan province, Iran, serving as the capital of the province, the county, and the district. The city is also known as the "City of ...

) is an Iranian journalist. He has served as editor-in-chief of various

reformist Reformism is a political tendency advocating the reform of an existing system or institution – often a political or religious establishment – as opposed to its abolition and replacement via revolution. Within the socialist movement, ref ...

print media, many of which have been banned by the authorities.

Early life and education

Ghouchani was born in 1976 in the city of

. He graduated from the

University of Tehran The University of Tehran (UT) or Tehran University (, ) is a public collegiate university in Iran, and the oldest and most prominent Iranian university located in Tehran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as ...

with a degree in

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

Career

He started his career in ''

Jame'eh ''Jame'eh'' () was a Persian language reformist newspaper published in Tehran briefly between February and June 1998. Geneive Abdo described it as the first free newspaper in Iran. History and profile ''Jameah'' was launched on 5 February 1998. ...

'', the most famous among the newspapers that started after the reformer

Mohammad Khatami Mohammad Khatami (born 14 October 1943) is an Iranian politician and Shia cleric who served as the fifth president of Iran from 3 August 1997 to 3 August 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture from 1982 to 1992. Later, he was critic ...

became the president in 1997. Ghouchani also wrote for ''

Asr-e Azadegan ''Asr-e Azadegan'' () was a Persian-language daily newspaper in Iran published briefly between 1999 and 2000. History and profile ''Asr-e Azadegan'' was established on 7 October 1999. The founder and publisher of the daily was Hamid Reza Jala ...

'' and became the "star" of that publication. In 2000, he won political columnist of the year prize at the Iranian Press Festival, but was jailed shortly after for his writings. He became the first editor-in-chief of ''

Shargh ''Shargh'' (; also as ''Sharq'') is one of the most popular Reformist daily newspapers in Iran. The owner iMehdi Rahmanian the editor-in-chief of the newspaper iAli Dehghanand the editor-in-chief of online iSina Rahimpour History and profil ...

'' in 2003 until it was closed down in September 2006. He then held the same position at '' Ham-Mihan'' between May and June 2007, when the latter was also banned. From 2007 to 2008, he was editor of the weekly magazine ''

Shahrvand-e-Emrooz ''Shahrvand-e-Emrooz'' () was a Persian-language weekly news magazine that was in circulation between March 2007 and September 2011. History and profile ''Shahrvand-e-Emrooz'' was launched in March 2007. Mohammad Ghoochani and Mohammad Reza Kho ...

''. Ghouchani then served as the editor-in-chief of '' Etemad-e Melli'', the official organ of National Trust Party led by

Mehdi Karroubi Mehdi Karroubi (, 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 arrest in February 2011. As of 2021, he ...

. He was also in charge of the women's lifestyle magazine ''

Irandokht Irandokht ( 1916-1984 –) was a princess of Iran. She was the first child of Badr al-Molouk and Ahmad Shah Qajar, the last ruling member of the Qajar dynasty. She was princess of Persia before leaving the country with her parents when she was ...

'', another publication close to Karroubi, until its office was raided in December 2009. In the aftermath of

2009 Iranian presidential election protests After incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared victory in the 2009 Iranian presidential election, protests broke out in major cities across Iran in support of opposition candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. The protests c ...

, Ghouchani was imprisoned along with many journalists and both his publications were closed down. After 131 days in detention, he was released on bail. With ease of pressure on media as

Hassan Rouhani Hassan Rouhani (; born Hassan Fereydoun, 12 November 1948) is an Iranian peoples, Iranian politician who served as the seventh president of Iran from 2013 to 2021. He is also a sharia lawyer ("Wakil"), academic, former diplomat and Islamic cl ...

took office, Ghouchani published a pre-issue of '' Ham-Mihan'' on 26 October 2013, but the

judicial system The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

allegedly prevented republication of the newspaper. He also served as the editor-in-chief of '' Aseman'' and '' Mehrnameh''. The former was a weekly magazine that was turned into a daily newspaper, but it was shut down by the judicial authorities less than a week after its launch in February 2014.

Views

Ghouchani is a critic of Neo-Shariatism. In 2004, Ghouchani spoke out about the

red lines ''Red Lines'' is a documentary film produced by Spark Media in 2014. It depicts the ongoing civil war in Syria and the efforts of activists Mouaz Moustafa and Razan Shalab-al-Sham to raise international support for the revolution and to promote d ...

that could not be crossed in Iran, and said he views the

ethical standard Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied ethics ...

for journalism in Iran as "not lying to society". He also stated "Journalism is our job, our passion and our life, something that we don’t want to lose, unless we reach the point where we cannot work honorably".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghouchani, Mohammad Iranian journalists People from Rasht Living people 1976 births Executives of Construction Party politicians Iranian newspaper publishers (people) Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Iran Political prisoners in Iran