Emadeddin Baghi is an Iranian journalist, theologian, writer and prisoners’ rights defender born on 25 April 1962 in Shahreza, Isfahan Province. He is the founder and head of the Committee for the Defense of Prisoners’ Rights and the Society of Right to Life Guardians in Iran. He is on the Advisory Board of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights. Since the 1980s he has documented executions in Iran and advocated tirelessly for the abolition of the death penalty, producing over twenty books (six of which are banned in Iran) and detailed investigations into state‐sponsored killings of dissident intellectuals known as the Chain Murders. He has served multiple prison sentences including one in 2000 (three years, two served), repeated arrests in 2007, and lengthy detention from December 2009 to June 2011 following a BBC Persian interview with Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, much of it spent in solitary confinement while suffering health decline; he was unable to attend the 2009 Martin Ennals Award ceremony in Geneva due to a travel ban. He was awarded the Civil Courage Prize in 2004, the French Republic human rights award in 2005, the British Press Award in 2008, and the Martin Ennals Award in 2009. Despite ongoing harassment including frequent court summonses and a revocation of his passport that prevented international travel, he remains active in documenting rights abuses and advocating legal reform in Iran.