WHashem Aghajari also Seyyed Hashem Aghajari is an Iranian historian, university professor and a critic of the Islamic Republic's government who was sentenced to death in 2002 for apostasy for a speech he gave on Islam urging Iranians to "not blindly follow" Islamic clerics. In 2004, after domestic Iranian and international outcry, his sentence was reduced to five years in prison.
WAli-Asghar Sadr Haj Seyyed Javadi was an Iranian writer, journalist and activist. Politically, he was a dissident to both Pahlavi and Islamic Republic governments.
WMohammad-Taqi Bahar, widely known as Malek osh-Sho'arā and Malek osh-Sho'arā Bahār, was a renowned Iranian poet, scholar, politician, journalist, historian and Professor of Literature. Although he was a 20th-century poet, his poems are fairly traditional and strongly nationalistic in character. Bahar was father of prominent Iranist, linguist, mythologist and Persian historian Mehrdad Bahar.
WSamad Behrangi was an Iranian teacher, social critic, folklorist, translator, and short story writer of Azerbaijani descent. He is famous for his children's books, particularly The Little Black Fish. Influenced by predominantly leftist ideologies that were common among the intelligentsia of his era, which made him popular among the Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas, his books typically portrayed the lives of the children of the urban poor and encouraged the individual to change his/ her circumstances by her own initiatives.
WBahrām Beyzāie is a critically and popularly acclaimed filmmaker, playwright, theatre director, screenwriter, film editor, and ostād ("master") of Persian letters, arts and Iranian studies.
WNasser Fakouhi is an Iranian anthropologist, writer and translator.
WShahram Jalilian is an Iranian Iranologist and historian. His Higher education was in Shahid Beheshti University and took his doctorate in History of Ancient Iran at the University of Tehran. He is now the Associate Professor in the history of Ancient Iran at Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz.
WMohsen Kadivar is a philosopher, leading intellectual reformist, and professor of Islamic Studies. A political Iranian dissident, Kadivar has been a vocal critic of the doctrine of clerical rule, also known as Velayat-e Faqih, and a strong advocate of democratic and liberal reforms in Iran as well as constructional reform in shari'a and Shi'a theology. Kadivar has served time in prison in Iran for his political activism and beliefs.
WMohsen Makhmalbaf is an Iranian film director, writer, film editor, and producer. He has made more than 20 feature films, won some 50 awards and been a juror in more than 15 major film festivals. His award-winning films include Kandahar; his latest documentary is The Gardener and latest feature The President.
WAli Shariati Mazinani was an Iranian revolutionary and sociologist who focused on the sociology of religion. He is held as one of the most influential Iranian intellectuals of the 20th century and has been called the "ideologue of the Iranian Revolution", although his ideas ended up not forming the basis of the Islamic Republic.
WReza Shirmarz, is a Greece-based published and awarded playwright, translator, researcher, theatre director and essayist with more than 30 books both written and translated by him, collaborating with major publishing companies, theaters, drama schools, radio channels, journals, etc. in Iran. Reza Shirmarz was elected as a member of the board of directors of Iran's Playwrights Guild for 3 ongoing years. He has been a professional member of bodies such as Iran's Playwrights Guild, Pen America and Dramatists Guild of America. He also is a language specialist and a full member of Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL) in London.