Roya Toloui (born May 22, 1966, in Baneh, Kurdistan province, Iran) is a prominent Kurdish-Iranian journalist, human rights activist and feminist, currently residing in the US.
She received her high school diploma at Baneh and her PhD in Medical laboratory[1] from University of Mashad.
Due to her outspoken criticism of authorities as well as defense of the rights of Kurdish and Iranian women, she was tried in a Revolutionary Court in April 2005 and was accused of endangering national security.
[2] Following demonstrations in Kurdish inhabited areas of western Iran, she was arrested on 2 August 2005, and held in prison for 66 days until freed on bail in October 2005.
[4] After her release, she fled Iran for Turkey and finally she sought refuge in the United States in April 2006.