Maziar Bahari

Maziar Bahari is an Iranian-Canadian journalist, filmmaker, and activist. While reporting on the 2009 Iranian election protests for Newsweek, he was accused of sedition and espionage and imprisoned by the Iranian government for his journalism. Bahari was held for four months before his release following an international campaign, and he continues to be an outspoken advocate for free speech and human rights. His bestselling memoir about his experience, “Then They Came for Me,” was adapted into the feature film “Rosewater,” directed by Jon Stewart.

Bahari is the founder of IranWire, a platform for Iranian citizen journalists, as well as Journalism Is Not a Crime, which documents human rights abuses committed against journalists and provides aid to those who are persecuted. He is also the founder of Education Is Not a Crime, a campaign to draw attention to the government’s denial of the rights of the Baha’is, an Iranian religious minority. Bahari has been internationally recognized for his work in filmmaking, journalism, and human rights advocacy.

Bahari has produced documentaries and news reports for broadcasters around the world including the BBC, Channel 4, HBO, Discovery, Canal+ and NHK. His films include "Paint! No Matter What," "Football, Iranian Style," "And Along Came a Spider," "Mohammed and the Matchmaker," "Targets: Reporters in Iraq," "Greetings from Sadr City," "Online Ayatollah," "The Fall of a Shah," "An Iranian Odyssey," and "To Light a Candle." The International Documentary Film Festival organized a retrospective of his films; he was honored by the ILEX Foundation for Excellence in Iranian Cinema. Bahari has been a jury member of number of international film festivals.

Bahari graduated with a degree in communications from Concordia University in Montreal. He is a board member and president of Journalism for Change, a platform that showcases best practices, forges new networks, and provides a new outlet for citizen journalists.