 |  | Born on 27 July 1947 in Tehran, Masoud Behnoud started his career as a journalist in 1964 and became one of the most important and active figures in the trade union of the Iranian journalists. During his career Behnoud produced and presented programmes for the National Iranian Radio and Television, and he founded a number of newspapers and magazines, many of which were banned with the advent of 1979 Islamic revolution of Iran, with the editor and senior members of staff being arrested. An attempt to publish other newspapers later on was met with public interest though they were all closed down. In 1999, a number of intellectuals were murdered in Iran, and much to his horror Behnoud discovered that he was also a target.
Behnoud was later imprisoned as the court found him guilty of ‘provoking public opinion and insulting the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic and the Commander of the Revolutionary Guards’. The arrest was met with protest from the international community. Having served six months in prison, two of which were in solitary confinement. Behnoud was released on bail. In June 2002, while he was engaged in a European lecture tour, the Iranian judicial authorities issued a warrant for his arrest. He refused to go back to Iran.
Behnoud currently lives in the UK working as a freelance journalist for a number of media organisations, mainly BBC Persian Service, for which he has worked for the past fourteen years. |
