Ebrahim Nabavi
Encyclopedia
Seyyed Ebrahim Nabavi is a prolific Iran
ian satirist, writer
, diarist, and researcher. , he is the most widely known and active Iranian satirist, currently living in Belgium
. He currently writes in the news website Gooya
and the online newspaper
Rooz
, and has a satirical program for the website and broadcasts of the Amsterdam
based Radio Zamaneh
.
at Shiraz University
and University of Tehran
, but before starting his political career in Tehran
, Nabavi also worked as a school teacher, and taught philosophy
in the Jihad for Construction (جهاد سازندگی) effort.
Nabavi started his political career working for the Iranian dalahoo in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the Ministry of Interior (personally invited by Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri
), and the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
(personally invited by Mohammad Hashemi
). His posts include the Manager of the Political Office of the Ministry of Interior in 1361–1364 AP
(ca. 1982–1985 CE). According to himself, he was chosen because of his wide political knowledge about the Iranian political issues, because of his past activities with the Office for Strengthening Unity
and the Organization of Muslim Students of Shiraz University, where he had worked with Ata'ollah Mohajerani
, Jamileh Kadivar
, and Mostafa Moeen
.
titled "andar hekāyat-e rešte va sar-r derāz va …" and continued it in the Gozaresh-e Film magazine (which he co-founded and worked as the magazine's first editor) with "rāport-hā" (reports). After leaving Gozaresh-e Film, Nabavi helped Kioumars Saberi Foumani
start the Gol-Agha magazine, where he later wrote for.
While working at Gol-Agha, Nabavi started writing also for the Hamshahri
monthly magazine, where he suggested establishing the Hamshahri daily newspaper, which later became very popular. Nabavi left the Hamshahri Institute three months after the resignation of Ahmad Sattari, the daily newspaper's then editor. After leaving Hamshahri, Nabavi found tried various random jobs, including designing crossword puzzle
s.
Nabavi later "escaped" to Isfahan
in 1996, as a reason for which he has mentioned the tighter restrictions on media imposed during the ministership of Ali Larijani
and Mostafa Mirsalim in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. In Isfahan he later became active in the presidential campaign for Mohammad Khatami
, after his election he moved back to Tehran
.
Nabavi became famous after starting his daily column sotūn-e panjom (Fifth Column
) in the newspaper Jame'eh, which he continued in several newspapers (under different variations of the title) after the newspapers were banned one after another. He also helped Fa'ezeh Hashemi in the founding of the newspaper Zan
. In August 2009 he released the video "The Confession: Ebrahim Nabavi", where "dressed in striped pajamas and wearing bandages," he "confesses to meeting with a C.I.A. agent, importing green velvet, and having affairs with celebrities ranging from Marilyn Monroe
and Sophia Loren
to Carla Bruni
and Scarlett Johansson
" in a parody of defendant confessions at the 2009 election protesters show trial
in Tehran. The video had over 120,000 viewings as of February 10, 2010.
He has also written several books of satire, interviews, prison diaries, and research on the history of Iranian satire. , he also writes for the online newspaper Rooz
and the BBC News
in Persian.
Nabavi was arrested and jailed two times for his political satires, where he wrote sālon-e šomāre-ye šeš (سالن شماره ۶; Corridor No 6), translated to French
as Couloir n° 6 : Carnets de prison (ISBN 2-7427-5161-0).
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian satirist, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, diarist, and researcher. , he is the most widely known and active Iranian satirist, currently living in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. He currently writes in the news website Gooya
Gooya
Gooya is a Persian-language website started by Belgium-based journalist Farshad Bayan in 1998.At that time, there were a few Iran-related websites and most Persian media did not have online editions. Manually prepared electronic copies of popular Persian journals , such as the magazine Payam-e...
and the online newspaper
Online newspaper
An online newspaper, also known as a web newspaper, is a newspaper that exists on the World Wide Web or Internet, either separately or as an online version of a printed periodical....
Rooz
Rooz
Rooz is a Persian and English news website. It is mostly staffed by exiled Iranian journalists including Masoud Behnoud, Ebrahim Nabavi and Nikahang Kowsar with occasional articles by activists and journalists inside Iran, including Shirin Ebadi and Ahmad Zeidabadi...
, and has a satirical program for the website and broadcasts of the Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
based Radio Zamaneh
Radio Zamaneh
Radio Zamaneh is an Amsterdam-based Persian language radio. "Zamaneh" is the Persian literary term for "time".Radio Zamaneh is founding by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs but in content an independent broadcasting organization, registered as a non-profit organization in the Netherlands, with...
.
Early career
During and after studying sociologySociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
at Shiraz University
Shiraz University
Shiraz University , formerly known as Pahlavi University, is a public university located in Shiraz, Iran. It is one of the major universities of Iran....
and University of Tehran
University of Tehran
The University of Tehran , also known as Tehran University and UT, is Iran's oldest university. Located in Tehran, the university is among the most prestigious in the country, and is consistently selected as the first choice of many applicants in the annual nationwide entrance exam for top Iranian...
, but before starting his political career in Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
, Nabavi also worked as a school teacher, and taught philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
in the Jihad for Construction (جهاد سازندگی) effort.
Nabavi started his political career working for the Iranian dalahoo in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the Ministry of Interior (personally invited by Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri
Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri
Hodjatoleslam Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri , sometimes spelled Nategh-Nouri is an Iranian politician who was the Chairman of the Parliament from 1992 to 2000. Before that, he was the interior minister of the Islamic Republic...
), and the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcaster, or IRIB, , formerly called the National Iranian Radio and Television until the Islamic revolution of 1979, is a giant Iranian corporation in control of radio and television which is among the largest media organizations in Asia and Pacific region, and a regular...
(personally invited by Mohammad Hashemi
Mohammad Hashemi
Mohammad Hashemi is an Iranian official. He was one of "the core group of leaders" of the Iran hostage takers, the first deputy of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security for some years. From 2003 to 2004, when the venture went bankrupt, he was a developer of a proposed vacation resort on the...
). His posts include the Manager of the Political Office of the Ministry of Interior in 1361–1364 AP
Iranian calendar
The Iranian calendars or sometimes called Persian calendars are a succession of calendars invented or used for over two millennia in Greater Iran...
(ca. 1982–1985 CE). According to himself, he was chosen because of his wide political knowledge about the Iranian political issues, because of his past activities with the Office for Strengthening Unity
Office for Strengthening Unity
The Office for Strengthening Unity , is an Iranian student organization created in 1979, and has been described as "the country's most well-known student organization," and "Iran's leading prodemocracy student group"...
and the Organization of Muslim Students of Shiraz University, where he had worked with Ata'ollah Mohajerani
Ata'ollah Mohajerani
Ata'ollah Mohajerani , , is an Iranian historian, politician, journalist, and author. Ata`ollah Mohajerani served as Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance of Iran under reformist President Mohammad Khatami until 2000 when he was resigned from office for alleged permissiveness."-Overview:Dr...
, Jamileh Kadivar
Jamileh Kadivar
-Biography:Jamileh Kadivar was born in Fasa, a town near Shiraz in southern Iran. She attended school in Shiraz until she was 16 years old, when she moved to Tehran to get married. Her spouse is former Minister of Culture of Iran Ata'ollah Mohajerani and they have four children: Mohammad Mohsen ,...
, and Mostafa Moeen
Mostafa Moeen
Mostafa Moeen, M.D. , is an Iranian politician and professor of Pediatrics, and an advisor to the former President Mohammad Khatami. He was a presidential candidate for the 2005 Iranian presidential election...
.
Satire and journalism career
Nabavi started his satire career in the Soroush magazine in serial articles on cinemaFilm
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
titled "andar hekāyat-e rešte va sar-r derāz va …" and continued it in the Gozaresh-e Film magazine (which he co-founded and worked as the magazine's first editor) with "rāport-hā" (reports). After leaving Gozaresh-e Film, Nabavi helped Kioumars Saberi Foumani
Kioumars Saberi Foumani
Kioumars Saberi Foumani also known with his pen nameGol-Agha , was an Iranian satirist, writer, and teacher.-Education and Personal Life:Saberi was born during the Second World War in Souma'eh Sara...
start the Gol-Agha magazine, where he later wrote for.
While working at Gol-Agha, Nabavi started writing also for the Hamshahri
Hamshahri
Hamshahri is a major national Iranian Persian-language newspaper published by the Municipality of Tehran, and founded by Gholamhossein Karbaschi. It is the first coloured daily newspaper in Iran and has over 60 pages of classified advertisement, and is priced at 1000 Iranian rials. Currently, the...
monthly magazine, where he suggested establishing the Hamshahri daily newspaper, which later became very popular. Nabavi left the Hamshahri Institute three months after the resignation of Ahmad Sattari, the daily newspaper's then editor. After leaving Hamshahri, Nabavi found tried various random jobs, including designing crossword puzzle
Crossword Puzzle
For the common puzzle, see CrosswordCrossword Puzzle was the second to last album made by The Partridge Family and was not one of the most popular albums. It was released in 1973 and did not produce a U.S. single. This album was finally released on CD in 2003 on Arista's BMG Heritage label...
s.
Nabavi later "escaped" to Isfahan
Isfahan (city)
Isfahan , historically also rendered in English as Ispahan, Sepahan or Hispahan, is the capital of Isfahan Province in Iran, located about 340 km south of Tehran. It has a population of 1,583,609, Iran's third largest city after Tehran and Mashhad...
in 1996, as a reason for which he has mentioned the tighter restrictions on media imposed during the ministership of Ali Larijani
Ali Larijani
Ali Ardashir Larijani is an Iranian philosopher, politician and the chairman of the Iranian parliament. Larijani was the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council from August 15, 2005 to October 20, 2007, appointed to the position by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,replacing Hassan Rowhani...
and Mostafa Mirsalim in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. In Isfahan he later became active in the presidential campaign for Mohammad Khatami
Mohammad Khatami
Sayyid Mohammad Khātamī is an Iranian scholar, philosopher, Shiite theologian and Reformist politician. He served as the fifth President of Iran from August 2, 1997 to August 3, 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture in both the 1980s and 1990s...
, after his election he moved back to Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
.
Nabavi became famous after starting his daily column sotūn-e panjom (Fifth Column
Fifth column
A fifth column is a group of people who clandestinely undermine a larger group such as a nation from within.-Origin:The term originated with a 1936 radio address by Emilio Mola, a Nationalist General during the 1936–39 Spanish Civil War...
) in the newspaper Jame'eh, which he continued in several newspapers (under different variations of the title) after the newspapers were banned one after another. He also helped Fa'ezeh Hashemi in the founding of the newspaper Zan
Zan (newspaper)
Zan was an Iranian newspaper focused on women's rights, published from 1998 until it was banned in 1999.Zan was founded by Faezeh Hashemi in July 1998, becoming "the first-ever women's newspaper in Iran, competing for readership with established dailies and inserting women into the very heart of...
. In August 2009 he released the video "The Confession: Ebrahim Nabavi", where "dressed in striped pajamas and wearing bandages," he "confesses to meeting with a C.I.A. agent, importing green velvet, and having affairs with celebrities ranging from Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
and Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
to Carla Bruni
Carla Bruni
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is an Italian-French songwriter, singer, actress, and former model...
and Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Johansson is an American actress, model and singer.Johansson made her film debut in North and was later nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her performance in Manny & Lo . She rose to further prominence with her roles in The Horse Whisperer and Ghost World...
" in a parody of defendant confessions at the 2009 election protesters show trial
2009 Iran poll protests trial
2009 Iran poll protests trial refers to a series of trials conducted after 2009 Iranian presidential election. Over 140 defendants, including prominent politicians, academics and writers, were put on trial for participating in the 2009 Iranian election protests...
in Tehran. The video had over 120,000 viewings as of February 10, 2010.
He has also written several books of satire, interviews, prison diaries, and research on the history of Iranian satire. , he also writes for the online newspaper Rooz
Rooz
Rooz is a Persian and English news website. It is mostly staffed by exiled Iranian journalists including Masoud Behnoud, Ebrahim Nabavi and Nikahang Kowsar with occasional articles by activists and journalists inside Iran, including Shirin Ebadi and Ahmad Zeidabadi...
and the BBC News
BBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
in Persian.
Nabavi was arrested and jailed two times for his political satires, where he wrote sālon-e šomāre-ye šeš (سالن شماره ۶; Corridor No 6), translated to French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
as Couloir n° 6 : Carnets de prison (ISBN 2-7427-5161-0).
External links
- Political satire of Ebrahim Nabavi reaches abroad Ebrahim Nabavi's weblog where he publishes his articles in Perse-sans-rire, an article about Nabavi Nabavi's satires on Rooz Nabavi's satirical weblog
- Human Rights Watch calls for Nabavi's release - IFEXInternational Freedom of Expression ExchangeThe International Freedom of Expression eXchange , founded in 1992, is a global network of around 90 non-governmental organisations that promotes and defends the right to freedom of expression....