Public Policy Discussion and Luncheon
Who Rules Iran?

Nazila Fathi
Former New York Times Journalist, Translator, and Commentator on Iran

May 4, 2012

12:00 - 1:45 p.m.

Heinz Hall, Mozart Room, 600 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh

Online registration is closed. If you would like to attend, please contact Melanie Gulasy at 412-281-7970.

Concerns about the tensions between Iran, the United States, and Israel dominate international politics as all sides debate the  possibility of war over Iran’s continuing nuclear program. However, within Iranian society, tensions boil under the surface. Citizens seeking freedom challenge religious ayatollahs, and the same religious leaders experience infighting and competition. President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad has differed on issues with the Parliament and the ruling establishment. Reformers seek out ways to evade internet and press censorship, while a cultural struggle ensues between clerics and young citizens. The international community remains concerned about human rights issues regarding the treatment of prisoners, the status of women, and the detention of dissenters. With nearly two-thirds of the Iranian population born after the 1979 revolution, can Ayatollah Ali Khamenei preserve the state’s ironclad grip? What is the real balance of power within Iran?

Nazila Fathi is a journalist, translator, and commentator on Iran. She reported from Iran for nearly two decades until 2009 when she was forced to leave the country because of government threats against her. From 2001 until she left, she was The New York Times’ correspondent in Tehran –  and wrote over 2,000 articles. Prior to that, she wrote for Time magazine, Agence France-Presse, and the Times. She translated a book, History and Documentation of Human Rights in Iran, by the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Shirin Ebadi, into English in 2001. She has written for The New York Review of Books, Foreign Policy, Nieman Reports, and the online publication, openDemocracy. Ms. Fathi has been a guest speaker on CNN, BBC, CBC, NPR, and at several academic institutions including Stanford University and Harvard University. In 2003, she was awarded the Raoul Wallenberg Fellowship at Lund University. She was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard in 2010-11 and is currently at the Shorenstein Center where she is working on a book on Iran.

Costs
Council Members: $45 | Non-Members: $60 | Table of eight (8) $360
Please advise in advance of any dietary restrictions.

Participants must register to attend. No-shows and cancellations after April 30, 2012 will be charged.

Online registration is closed. If you would like to attend, please contact Melanie Gulasy at 412-281-7970.