Shahla Sherkat (born March 30, 1956) is an Iranian journalist, publisher, author, feminist, and women's rights activist.
She is a prominent Persian feminist author and one of the pioneers of Women's rights movement in Iran.
Shahla Sherkat is the founder and publisher of Zanan magazine (English:"women"), which focuses on the concerns of Iranian women and continually tests the political waters with its edgy coverage of everything from reform politics to domestic abuse to sex.
[1] Sherkat had had to appear in court on several occasions when the Iranian government considered Zanan's content pushing boundaries too far.
[1] In 2001, she was sentenced to four months in prison for attending a conference in Berlin at which the future of politics in Iran was discussed following the success of reformist candidates in a parliamentary election.