Dr. Bahram Akasheh

Dr. Bahram Akasheh, seismologist and expert in geology and professor of geophysics, university professor, and dean of engineering faculty of Islamic Azad University North Tehran Branch, is the recipient of the Nowruz Award in the field of natural heritage and environment for:

• • Decades of efforts to introduce seismology to students to educate and inform and reduce risks of earthquakes

• • Establishment of the department of geophysics at the University of Tehran

• • Publication of more than one hundred scholarly articles and papers

• • Construction and operation of several seismic bases

Biography of Dr.Bahram Akhasheh

• • Dr. Bahram Akasheh is an Iranian seismologist and geophysicist. He is considered one of Iran’s leading experts on earthquakes and seismic activity.Dr. Akasheh was born in 1936 in Masjed Soleyman, Iran. He completed his primary and high school education in Masjed Soleyman and Ahvaz and his undergraduate university education in physics at the University of Tehran in 1956. He then pursued his postgraduate and doctoral studies at the University of Stuttgart, Germany in physics, geophysics and seismology, and geology.  After receiving his doctorate, Dr. Akasheh returned to the University of Tehran to teach at the Institute of Geophysics in 1985. Dr. Akasheh was later appointed as the chair of the department of Seismology, and went on to become the founder of the department of Geophysics at the University of Tehran. He later became the chair of the Department of Geophysics, at Islamic Azad University and served in that position for 14 years.Dr. Akasheh is the Dean of engineering faculty of Islamic Azad University North Tehran Branch.

Dr. Ardeshir Babaknia

Dr. Ardeshir Babaknia, physician, university professor, scientific and historical researcher, and cultural and artistic activist, is the recipient of the Nowruz Award in the field of culture and art for:

• • More than a decade of extensive research into the holocaust during World War II, and other genocides in the Middle East, with the goal of rooting out this type of human catastrophe

• • Four volumes of books on the Holocaust in Persian

• • Establishment of several cultural-scientific and social institutions

• • Supporting and cooperating with cultural and social institutions

• • Collecting and preserving a collection of Iranian historical artifacts

• • Creating beautiful artistic works on glass and ceramics with concepts related to the cultural and historical heritage of the ancient Persians

Biography of Ardeshir Babaknia

• • Dr. Ardeshir Babaknia, MD, is a Professor of Health Sciences, Medical Director and master of Health Sciences. Dr. Babaknia is also a special advisor to the Chapman University Provost in Health Initiative, Irvine CA.

• • Dr. Babaknia received his medical training at Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, US. He was trained in women’s reproductive health, and has been practicing Reproductive Medicine in Newport Beach, California for the last 25 years as well as serving as a Clinical Associate Professor at the School of Medicine, University of California in Irvine. Dr. Babaknia is one of the pioneers of minimally invasive laser surgery in medicine since the early 1980s. In addition to publishing more than 50 research and clinical articles on women’s health and wellness in peer reviewed journals, he is the author and co-author of over a dozen books in the field of women’s health, including two books on women’s health on nutrition: Soy: The Right Protein for Improving Your Health and Soy: One Choice for Menopausal Health.

• • He is the recipient of the National Medical Research Award for excellence in medical research from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

• • Dr. Babaknia has been a patron of the arts and of literature for many years. He is the Founder and Executive Director of the Persian Heritage Foundation (1987-2007) and the Graduate Society (Society for Iranian Jewish University Graduates) studying Jewish contributions and influences on Iranian life and culture in their over 2500 years of living in Iran. This culminated in the publication of several books on the subject (1991-2012), and he became a member of the Board of Directors of several other scientific, charity and cultural Foundations.

• • Dr. Babaknia has served as the Chairman of the Institute for the Holocaust Studies in Washington D.C. (2011-2013), as well as the Chairman of the Holocaust Remembrance Day of Orange County, California (1993-2013). He has been on an international book tour promoting genocide awareness and prevention, (2012-2020). Dr. Babaknia is the Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Menorah Foundation with the specific mission of spreading the truth about the Holocaust and other genocides in the Middle East.

• • His dedicated studies and research on the subject of the Holocaust for over a decade culminated in the publication of a 4-volume groundbreaking book in Farsi about the Holocaust and other genocides of the last one hundred years (Wyman, 2012), which was awarded reference book of the year by the Association of the Jewish Librarians (2013).

• • In his book, Humanity, NOT, released January 2014, Dr. Babaknia has tried to weave in actual words from victims of the Holocaust along with letters and quotes from diaries of the victims, perpetrators, bystanders, and survivors of the Holocaust, accompanied by powerful paintings by renowned Iranian graphic artist Ardeshir Mohasses, in a way that touches the personal stories of man’s inhumanity to man, the brutality of the Holocaust, and the fragility of humanity. He believes reading first-hand horrifying experiences of the victims as well as some thoughts from philosophers and scholars helps us understand that the “reaction to the Holocaust has to be other than mere horror and revulsion. It has to be more than empathy with the victims, sharing their fear and some part of their actual suffering.”

• • In the past few years, he has embarked on one of his lifetime dreams, a journey long in making; creating sandblasted glass and ceramics artworks on social justice and human rights, global peace, women’s rights, children’s rights, the global climate crisis, water rights, refugee life and rights, and many other pressing social issues of our time.

Mr. Amir Taheri

Mr. Amir Taheri, author, journalist, political analyst, cultural and literary critic, is the recipient of a Lifetime Nowruz Award in the field of journalism and communication sciences for:

• • Lifelong tireless efforts as a modern author and journalist in Iran and in exile

• • Commitment to journalism, and emphasis on concrete facts and reliable documents for writing, analysis, and critique

• • Authoring of ten successful books related to sensitive issues in the last few decades of Iran in Farsi and English

• • Writing hundreds of lasting articles and reviews of political, literary, and artistic books

• • Constant attention to human rights violations in Iran and writings on them in the popular European and American press

• • Utmost attention to the brilliant culture and history of Iran in his writings for various Iranian and non-Iranian publications

• • To say that Amir Taheri is the most important journalist in the history of Iran is not an exaggeration. It has been less than 200 years since we came across something called “modern journalism.” During this period, especially after the revolution, we have had a large number of good journalists who continued their work after they immigrated to other countries or have been forced to live in exile. We however have had only a few men and women who have written in languages other than Farsi and for magazines and papers or have been active as a journalist in radio and television of other countries. None of them have had the position that Amir Taheri has had as an Iranian journalist.

• • Amir Taheri started his career as a writer, translator and journalist well before the revolution in Iran, working in widely circulated newspapers for over 40 years. He has also worked as a successful journalist, widely published author, and a liberal political analyst outside Iran, working with international publications and in countries around the world. Taheri’s articles published in the international press have not only covered Iran’s issues and topics. Rather, he has been able to speak and write well and publish widely as a writer, a capable political analyst, and a good journalist on important European and American issues.

• • One of Taheri’s admirable values ​​is that in spite of all his great success outside Iran, he has never lost touch with his native country. He has been a vocal critic on every occasion to convey to the world the cries of Iranian people which are otherwise ignored, even in the presence of many journalists from abroad for various reasons.

• • Amir Taheri, like many social people, has his own political beliefs which he has never hidden in order to please others. However, he has not included them in his writings and analysis, as his writings and analysis have always been based on existing facts, clear and undeniable documents. In addition, he has never forgotten the humane and moral virtues that some journalists have forgotten in order to please readers or catch viewer’s attention.

• • Amir Taheri is an example of a brilliant and modern journalist who still embraces Iranian culture beautifully and lovingly.

• • The Pasargad Heritage Foundation is proud to present its “Nowruz Award” to Mr. Amir Taheri for his lifetime achievement.

Biography of Mr. Amir Taheri.

• • Amir Taheri was born in Ahvaz, southwest Iran and educated in Tehran, London and Paris. He started his journalistic life by editing his school magazine, Sepideh Sadaf in 1955-58 before becoming a contributor to a number of publications including the literary magazine Ashna, the “pocket-magazine” Bamshad, and the weeklies Roshanfekr and Omid Iran.

• • Between 1967 and 1968 he was Cultural Editor of the English-language daily Kayhan International before being named the paper’s Political Editor for almost four years.

• • From 1972 to 1979 he was the executive editor-in-chief of Kayhan, Iran’s main daily newspaper.

• • Between 1980 and 1984 he was Middle East editor for the London Sunday Times. He also wrote for the Daily Times and contributed to The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, The Guardian, and the Daily Mail among other leading British publications. From 1984 to 1987 he was editor-in-chief of Jeune Afrique, the French weekly specializing in Africa. He has been a columnist for the pan-Arab daily Asharq Alawsat and its sister daily Arab News since 1987. Taheri was a contributor to the International Herald Tribune between 1980 and 1992. Between 2003 and 2018 he was a columnist for The New York Post. He has also written for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Newsday, and The Washington Post. Between 1989 and 1995. Taheri has also been an editorial writer for the German daily Die Welt.

• • Furthermore, as a syndicated columnist, he has written for other publications including Der Spiegel, Die Zeit, Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung, La Repubblica, L’Express, Politique Internationale, Le Nouvel Observateur, and El Mundo in Spain.  He was also a contributor to the German weekly Focus for almost ten years. Taheri has published twelve books. In 1988 Publishers’ Weekly in New York chose his study of Islamist terrorism, Holy Terror, as one of the Best Books of The Year. Some of his books have been translated into more than twenty languages. Between 1974 and 1979 he served as a member of the Board of Trustees of The Institute for International Political and Economic Studies in Tehran and Chairman of the board of the Iran Computer magazine. Between 1982 and 2000 he served as a member of the Executive Board of the International Press Institute (IPI) and its liaison officer with UNESCO in Paris.

• • In 1984 he helped launch the weekly Kayhan in London and worked as its Editor-in-Chief for a year. In 1988-89 he was a political advisor on Afghanistan to the UN Secretary-General Xavier Perez de Cuellar and chaired a series of seminars on Afghan issues in Geneva, Paris, and New York. As a journalist, he has interviewed dozens of world leaders, among them the Shah of Iran, US presidents, British prime ministers, Arab monarchs, and presidents, as well as Chinese and Soviet leaders.

• • Taheri has been Chairman of Gatestone Institute Europe, a public policy group since 2008. He has won a number of prizes for his journalism and was named International Journalist of the Year in 2012 by The Society of British Newspaper Editors.

• • Since leaving for exile in 1979 he has lived and worked in Paris and London with frequent visits to the Middle East, The United States, Russia, China, and The European Union nations.