Sina Motalebi

Who is Sina Motalebi?

Sina Motalebi is an Iranian journalist, based in London. He is currently the Editor of ZigZag magazine, a website based on the content of journalists and citizen's contributions following their distance journalism training course provided by the BBC World Service Trust.

He started his career in 1991 as a film critic and later began to write political and cultural columns and commentary for several reformist newspapers. He has joined the Persian Section of BBC World Service as a multimedia producer in 2004. He graduated from Tehran University, Faculty of Law and Political Science. After most of the Iranian reformist publications were banned by the Islamic government, Sina started blogging in his personal weblog, Webgard.

In 20 April 2003 he was arrested by intelligence division of law enforcement because of his writings in his weblog and newspapers, and his interviews with foreign media. He was detained 23 days in solitary confinement in a secret detention centre before he was released on bail.

In December 2003 Sina left the country for the Netherlands where he sought asylum.