Maziar Bahari is an Iranian‑Canadian journalist, documentary filmmaker and human rights defender. As a Newsweek correspondent, he was arrested at his home on 21 June 2009 following coverage of the disputed presidential election protests and detained in Evin Prison for 118 days during which he was interrogated, tortured, and coerced into a televised confession under duress claiming espionage. His case sparked a global campaign led by PEN America, Committee to Protect Journalists, International PEN and others demanding his release. He was released on bail in October 2009 and allowed to leave Iran. In May 2010 a Revolutionary Court sentenced him in absentia to 13  years in prison and 74 lashes on charges including national security offences and insulting state leaders. After release he authored Then They Came for Me, a memoir adapted into the 2014 film Rosewater, and founded advocacy platforms including IranWire, the campaign Journalism Is Not a Crime and public art initiative Paint the Change. He continues to speak and write globally on press freedom and human rights in Iran.