Mehdi Mousavi Biography
Mehdi Mousavi, sometimes known as Mehdi Moosavi (Farsi: مهدی موسوی), is an Iranian poet born in 1974, 1975, or 1976.
He is well-known for his socially conscious poetry.
Mousavi was arrested in 2013, alongside poet Fatemeh Ekhtesari. Mousavi was sentenced to nine years in prison, with 99 lashes.
A group of poets signed a petition requesting his release.
Mousavi fled from Iran in January 2016.
Mousavi is a poet, editor, cultural activist, and pharmacist from Iran.
He arrived in Lillehammer as part of the Cities of Refuge Network in 2017.
Mehdi Mousavi Profile | |
|---|---|
| Native name | سید مهدی موسوی |
| Born | Seyed Mehdi Mousavi 2 October 1976 Tehran, Iran |
| Occupation |
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| Language | Persian |
| Education | PhD of Pharmacy |
| Literary movement | Postmodern Ghazal |
Mehdi Moosavi Career
The authorities denied permission to publish two volumes of poems, Suddenly and Beeping for the Sheep. Many of his poems that had been rejected for publication were eventually released online.
The majority of this movement’s works have been heavily censored by the Iranian government, and practically all of them have been prohibited in Iran and thus circulated underground.
Mousavi has led creative writing workshops, teaching students how to write poems, short tales, and novels. They were forbidden from meeting in public, so they would frequently gather in people’s houses.
The Iranian authorities periodically shut down the workshops, placing Mousavi and some of his peers under monitoring.
Mehdi Mousavi also has a PhD in Pharmacy, and owned and ran his pharmacy in Ilam, Iran, from 2012 until 2015.
Mehdi Moosavi Arrest
On December 6, 2013, Fatemeh Ekhtesari and Mehdi Moosavi were supposed to fly to Turkey for a writing workshop, but they were detained at the airport.
They were informed that they were under a travel prohibition, and their passports were taken.
They vanished a few hours later and were not seen again until December 24, 2014, when they were discovered in Section 2A of Evin Prison.
Torture and other forms of abuse against prisoners are frequent in the facility, which is run by the Intelligence Division of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps.
On January 14, 2014, Ekhtesari and Mousavi were released on bond. According to their lawyer, Moosavi was sentenced to six years in prison for “insulting the holy sanctities”, three years for “storing tear gas”, and 99 lashes for “illicit relations”.
The bail was 200 million tomans or around 60,000 USD.
Mehdi Moosavi Work
Many of his works were prohibited in Iran and circulated clandestinely. The authorities denied the publication of two of his collections, “Suddenly” and “Beeping for the Sheep”. Shahin Najafi, an exiled Iranian singer, has performed some of Mousavi’s lyrics.
Published works include:
- Angels Have Committed Suicide (2002).
- I Only Publish These for You (2005).
- The Little Bird Was Neither a Bird nor Little (2010). Because the books and his position as a literary movement were referenced in a letter based on the information provided to PEN, and there is still no indication of any book, even a PDF file on the internet.)
