Sina Motalebi ( fa, سينا مطلبی; born 21 April 1973) is an Iranian journalist, based in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. He was the Editor of ZigZag magazine, a website based on the content of journalists and citizen's contributions following their distance journalism training course provided by the

BBC World Service Trust BBC Media Action, formerly known as the BBC World Service Trust, is the BBC's international development charity, funded independently by external grants and voluntary contributions. The purpose of the organisation is to use media and communicatio ...

Career

He started his career in 1991 as a film critic and later began to write political and cultural columns and commentary for several reformist newspapers. He has joined the Persian Section of

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

as a multimedia producer in 2004. He graduated from

Tehran University The University of Tehran (Tehran University or UT, fa, دانشگاه تهران) is the most prominent university located in Tehran, Iran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as its research and teaching p ...

, Faculty of Law and Political Science. After most of the Iranian reformist publications were banned by the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government ...

, Sina started blogging in his personal

weblog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

, Webgard (also known as Rooznegar). On 20 April 2003 he was arrested by intelligence division of law enforcement because of his writings in his weblog and newspapers, and his interviews with foreign media. He was detained 23 days in solitary confinement in a secret detention centre before he was released on bail. In December 2003 Sina left the country for the Netherlands where he sought asylum. He recalled his experiences in his weblog as well as a joint press conference held by

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human ...

and

Reporters sans frontières Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...

(in June 2004). The judiciary responded by arresting his father, Saeed Motalebi and charged him with "assisting the escape of an accused person," an apparent reference to his son's departure from Iran, despite the fact that Sina Motalebi left Iran legally. Saeed Motalebi was detained for 10 days in a secret detention centre before being released. During his detention Pedram Moallemian, an Iranian blogger and activist, campaigned for his release.Iranian journalist faces manslaughter charge
Journalism.co.uk, 9 May 2003.

Awards and honors

*1997 – The First Prize at the National Press Festival, Tehran *2005 – Hellman/Hammett Grant by

References

Sources

Sina Motalebi's father arrested
–

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Motallebi, Sina 1973 births Living people Iranian journalists Iranian bloggers Iranian emigrants to the United Kingdom BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC World Service people People from Tehran University of Tehran alumni Online journalists