Brown Bag Lunch Series

Speaker: Mani Mostofi, Director of Impact Iran

International attention on Iran primarily focuses on progress towards a nuclear deal, the Republican leadership’s attempts to play spoiler, and the continued hope for President Rouhani as a political moderate. Sometimes overlooked is Iran’s stark human rights record. Perceived dissidents are tortured in Evin Prison. Women are being threatened with an array of new laws discriminating against them in employment, health, ecucation and more. Mani Mostofi, Director of Impact Iran, will discuss current human rights trends, with a particular focus on women’s rights, in the backdrop of the evolving Iranian-American diplomatic relationship.

Mani Mostofi is a Fordham Law alum (class of 2009) and is the Director of Impact Iran, a human rights advocacy coalition. Prior to Impact Iran, he was the Communications Director and Senior Researcher at City University of New York’s Human Rights in Iran Unit. He was also a Researcher at Human Rights Watch and the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, and co-supervisor of a project at Fordham Law School’s Walter Leitner International Human Rights Clinic. As a researcher, Mostofi has investigated a range of issues in Iran, including Internet freedom, arbitrary detention, economic sanctions, LGBT rights, and freedom of religion. He has also worked on the abuse migrant workers in Bahrain, domestic violence in New Zealand and torture policies in Malawi. Mostofi also has a Master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Texas, Austin.

Photo credit: Chris Marchant/Creative Commons

Brown Bag Lunch Series