Hamed Ainehavand
Hamed Ainehvand is a journalist, researcher, writer, and political activist. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science and a master's degree in International Relations and was expelled from his PhD studies in International Relations at Tehran University of Science and Research.
During more than a decade of his journalistic career, Ainehvand has written in many newspapers close to Iran's reformism in various fields of domestic and foreign policy. His first arrest took place in 2003 during the Koi anniversary demonstration at Tehran University and he was released from prison after three months.
In 2015, he registered to participate in the 10th round of the Islamic Council elections from the constituency of his hometown Toyserkan, but was disqualified by the Guardian Council. After his disqualification, he started working with Persian-language media abroad and strongly criticized the domestic and foreign policies of the Islamic Republic.
He was arrested and detained for the second time on July 28, 2018, while leaving the National Library, on charges of propaganda against the system and community, and collusion with the intention of acting against national security.
After about two months of solitary confinement and no access to a lawyer, he was sentenced to 6 years in prison by the 28th branch of the Revolutionary Court. Following the bloody suppression of the demonstrations in November 2019 and the interruption of the Internet in Iran due to the increase in international pressure on the Iranian government, he was released from prison with a general amnesty after serving two years of his sentence in Evin prison.
Following the severe suppression of the Women, Life, Freedom movement in Iran, Ainehvand lived in hiding and eventually left Iran.
In August 2023, Ainehvand took up the ICORN residency in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He is currently working with media outlets such as Voice of America and BBC Persian and is planning to continue his unfinished PhD studies in International Relations in the USA.
