Massoud Behnoud

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Massoud Behnoud, (مسعود بهنود in Persian) a prominent Iranian journalist and writer, was born on July 27, 1947 in Tehran. He started his work as a journalist in 1964. During his long career he worked as an investigating journalist for different newspapers. He founded more than 20 newspapers and magazines, none of them are currently in publication.

Between 1971-79 he was the chief editor of the most influential and popular daily in Iran "Ayandegan". This newspaper was closed in 1979 on the orders of Ayatollah Khomeini and its editor and senior staff were all imprisoned. During 1972-79 he also worked as a producer, writer and speaker for the "National Iranian Radio and Television". In 1979 Massoud Behnoud became the chief editor of the weekly "Tehran-e Mosavvar", which was shut down by the Islamic government after 30 issues during the crackdown of all non-governmental and independent newspapers.

Between 1972 and 1979 Massoud Behnoud was one of the most important and active figures of the trade union of Iranian journalists.

(Masoud Behnoud has a daugheter named Bamdad and his son Nima Behnoud is the founder of NIMANY clothing line)source: nimany.com, behnoud.com

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[edit] Crackdown of the journalists

After the crackdown on Iranian newspapers, Massoud Behnoud was imprisoned for 23 months. Other well known journalists, including Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, Akbar Ganji, Emadeddin Baqi and Ebrahim Nabavi, were also jailed. Behnoud was fined the equivalent of 15.000 USD. The court accused him of "having provoked public opinion, insulting the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic and the commander of the Revolutionary guards". Behnoud's imprisonment provoked condemnation from many international human rights groups, including Amnesty International, International PEN and Reporters Without Borders.

[edit] Prison

After serving a period of 6 months, two of which he spent in solitary confinement, Massoud Behnoud was released on temporary bail of approximately $U.S. 40,000.

On 1 June 2002 while Massoud Behnoud was engaged in a European lecture tour, the Iranian judiciary announced that an order for his arrest had once again been issued. On the basis of this order, he returned to Iran to serve the remainder of his 16 month prison term.

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