Seyyed Ebrahim Nabavi | |
|---|---|
 Nabavi in 2010 | |
| Born | (1958-11-13)13 November 1958 Astara, Iran |
| Died | 15 January 2025(2025-01-15) (aged 66) Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S. |
| Occupations | Satirist, writer, diarist, researcher, radio host |
Seyyed Ebrahim Nabavi (Persian:سید ابراهیم نبوی; 13 November 1958 – 15 January 2025) was an Iranian satirist, writer, diarist and researcher. He contributed to the news websiteGooya and theonline newspaperRooz, and had a satirical program for the website and broadcasts on theAmsterdam basedRadio Zamaneh.
During and after studying sociology atShiraz University andUniversity of Tehran, but before starting his political career inTehran, Nabavi also worked as a school teacher, and taught philosophy in theJihad of Construction (جهاد سازندگی) effort.
Nabavi started his political career working for the Iranian government in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the Ministry of Interior (personally invited byAli Akbar Nategh-Nouri), and theIslamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (personally invited byMohammad Hashemi). His posts include the Manager of the Political Office of the Ministry of Interior in 1361–1364AP (ca. 1982–1985 CE). According to himself, he was chosen because of his wide political knowledge about the Iranian political issues, because of his past activities with theOffice for Strengthening Unity and the Organization of Muslim Students of Shiraz University, where he had worked withAta'ollah Mohajerani,Jamileh Kadivar, andMostafa Moeen.
Nabavi started his satire career in theSoroush magazine in serial articles on cinema titled "andar hekāyat-e rešte va sar-r derāz va …" and continued it in theGozaresh-e Film magazine (which he co-founded and worked as the magazine's first editor) with "rāport-hā" (reports). After leavingGozaresh-e Film, Nabavi helpedKioumars Saberi Foumani start the Gol-Agha magazine, where he later wrote for.
While working at Gol-Agha, Nabavi started writing also for theHamshahri monthly magazine, where he suggested establishing theHamshahri daily newspaper, which later became very popular. Nabavi left the Hamshahri Institute three months after the resignation ofAhmad Sattari, the daily newspaper's then editor. After leaving Hamshahri, Nabavi found tried various random jobs, including designingcrossword puzzles.
Nabavi later "escaped" toIsfahan in 1996, a reason for which he had mentioned the tighter restrictions on media imposed during the ministership ofAli Larijani andMostafa Mirsalim in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. In Isfahan, he later became active in the presidential campaign forMohammad Khatami, after his election he moved back toTehran. He later moved into self-imposed exile, settling in Belgium sometime in 2003 or 2004.[1]
Nabavi became famous after starting his daily columnsotūn-e panjom (Fifth column) in the newspaperJame'eh, which he continued in several newspapers (under different variations of the title) after the newspapers were banned one after another. He also helpedFa'ezeh Hashemi in the founding of the newspaperZan. In August 2009 he released the video "The Confession: Ebrahim Nabavi",[2] where "dressed in striped pajamas and wearing bandages," he "confesses to meeting with a C.I.A. agent, importing green velvet, and having affairs with celebrities ranging fromMarilyn Monroe andSophia Loren toCarla Bruni andScarlett Johansson" in a parody of defendant confessions at the2009 election protesters show trial in Tehran.[3] The video had over 120,000 viewings as of 10 February 2010.
He also wrote several books of satire, interviews, prison diaries, and research on the history of Iranian satire. By 2006 he was writing for the online newspaperRooz and theBBC News in Persian.
Nabavi was arrested and jailed on two occasions for his political satire. During one of these periods of detention he wrotesālon-e šomāre-ye šeš (سالن شماره ۶;Corridor No 6), translated into French asCouloir n° 6 : Carnets de prison (ISBN 2-7427-5161-0).
On 15 January 2025, Nabavi died by suicide inSilver Spring, Maryland, United States, at the age of 66.[4]
