Ahmad Batebi, D.C.S.
Dr. Ahmad Batebi is an Iranian-American journalist, photographer, and prominent human rights activist who serves as Senior Fellow for Advocacy & Cybersecurity at the National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI). For more than two decades, his name has been bound to the struggle for freedom and human rights in Iran.
Born in 1977 in Shiraz, Dr. Batebi rose to international prominence during the July 1999 student protests in Tehran. As security forces stormed the University of Tehran dormitories, a photograph of him holding aloft the blood-stained shirt of a fellow protester appeared on the cover of The Economist (July 17, 1999) and became an enduring symbol of Iran's student movement and of the Iranian people's resistance to repression. Following the photo's publication, Dr. Batebi was arrested and, in a closed-door trial, sentenced to death by a Revolutionary Court — a sentence later commuted to fifteen years in prison after domestic and international outcry.
Dr. Batebi spent nearly a decade in Evin Prison, where he endured severe physical and psychological torture that left permanent injuries, including partial hearing loss. In 2008, while on a temporary medical furlough, he escaped Iran; with the help of an Iranian-Kurdish network he crossed the border to Erbil, Iraq, and was ultimately transferred to the United States under humanitarian parole.
After arriving in the United States, Dr. Batebi co-founded Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI) and was also among the founders of the International Centre for Human Rights (ICHR) in Canada. He worked for several years as a reporter, writer, and producer for the Persian-language service of Voice of America, and has continued to work independently as a journalist, photographer, and filmmaker — amplifying the voices of the Iranian people in U.S. policy circles, across the Middle East, and before international bodies.
Alongside his work in media and advocacy, Dr. Batebi holds a Doctorate in Cybersecurity and works at the intersection of technology, digital security, and human rights — including internet freedom and countering the regime's digital repression — an area directly aligned with NUFDI's mission.
Dr. Batebi has testified and spoken regularly at international human rights forums, including the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy. In January 2026, he testified before the United Nations Security Council on the Iranian regime's violent crackdown on nationwide protests, recounting his own experience of imprisonment and torture and calling on the international community not to abandon the Iranian people. His work remains a bridge between the voices of Iranians and the policymakers and public opinion of the world.
