Ahmad Batebi
Ahmad Batebi ( Persian احمد باطبی; * July 25, 1977 in Shiraz , Iran ) is an Iranian human rights activist currently living in the United States .
During his studies at the University of Tehran , he achieved international fame when he graced the front page of the British weekly magazine The Economist on July 17, 1999 in the wake of the bloodily suppressed student protests , holding up a t-shirt stained with the blood of another demonstrator.
This image has been used to this day as a symbol for the reform-oriented Iranian student movement. The student protests at the time began on July 9, 1999 in Tehran with peaceful demonstrations against the ban on the reform-oriented newspaper Salam. The following night there was an attack on a student residence by state security forces , where the masterminds of the demonstration were suspected. A student was killed in the process. This triggered further demonstrations and serious riots that lasted six days. Another three students were killed and 200 people injured. The photojournalist Jamshid Bayrami of the Iranian newspaper Jame'e took a photo of Batebi with a friend's T-shirt who had just been brutally beaten by the security forces as part of this dispute between students of state security forces. This was eventually sent to The Economist magazine .
Batebi was arrested after publication and in a trial closed to the public for "endangering national security" and "anti-government support propaganda " sentenced to death . Following massive national and international protests by various human rights groups and governments against the death sentence, the sentence was reduced to 15 years in prison. After an appeal against the verdict, head of state Seyyed Ali Chamene'i ultimately reduced it again to 10 years.
From detention in Evin prison out he was in 2006 for torture and ill-treatment, as well as a temporary hunger strike , health weakened temporarily relocated for medical treatment in a hospital, where he supported the underground network of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan to escape succeeded in Iraq . He has lived in the USA since July 24, 2008, where the government granted him asylum status .
Today he works as a photographer and journalist, coordinated from the USA as spokesman for an organization of exiled Iranians against human rights violations.
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| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Batebi, Ahmad |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Iranian political activist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 25, 1977 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Shiraz , Iran |