Omid Memarian

He has been blogging since 2002, in English and Persian, and has written for Iranian daily newspapers such as Hayat-e No (New Life), Yas-e-no (New Jasmin), Vaqaye-e Ettefaqiyeh (Occurring Events) and Sharq (or Shargh = meaning East).

He had obtained a US visa, but en route to Frankfurt, US authorities refused to allow him to board his flight, saying he was on a No Fly List.

He was detained for posting articles on several reformist newspapers, his blogs, and online publications and was charged with spreading a "dark picture of the country and stoking women's issues.

[7] Memarian has described his imprisonment and the interrogator's process of extracting a confession from him in interviews with National Public Radio.

[8][9] Memarian works as a freelance writer for the IPS (Inter Press Service) news agency Rooz Online, and BBC Persian.