Iranian-born journalist and author

Amir Taheri

Iranian-born journalist and author

Amir Taheri was born in Iran and educated in Tehran, London and Paris. Between 1972 and 1979 he was Executive Editor-in-Chief of Kayhan, Iran's main daily newspaper, and from 1980 to 1984 he was Middle East Editor for The Sunday Times. Then from 1984 to 1987 he was Editor-in-Chief of Jeune Afrique, the French weekly specialising in Africa. He has also written for The Times and contributed to The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, and the Daily Mail among other leading British publications. He has been a columnist for the pan-Arab daily Asharq Alawsat and its sister daily Arab News since 1987. Taheri has been a contributor to the International Herald Tribune since 1980, and between 1989 and 1995 was Editorial writer for the German daily Die Welt.

Taheri has won several prizes for his journalism and has published nine books, some of which have been translated into 20 languages. In 1988 Publishers' Weekly in New York chose his study of Islamist terrorism, Holy Terror (1987), as one of The Best Books of The Year. His most recent book is Persian Night: Iran under the Khomeinist Revolution (2009).

Taheri was member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute for International Political and Economic Studies (IIPES) from 1975 to 1980 and member of the Executive Board of the International Press Institute (IPI) from 1984 to 1992. He is a commentator for CNN and is frequently interviewed by other media including the BBC and the RFI. He has written several TV documentaries dealing with various issues of the Muslim world and has interviewed many world leaders, including US Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and Clinton, King Faisal, Mikhail Gorbachev, President Sadat, Chou En-lai, Indira Gandhi and Chancellor Helmut Kohl.