The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center Welcomes Rod Sanjabi as Executive Director
July 14, 2014
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Rod Sanjabi as its new Executive Director, effective August 1.
According to Kaveh Khoshnood, Chair of IHRDC’s Board of Directors, “We are pleased to welcome Mr. Sanjabi as IHRDC’s new Executive Director. His expert knowledge of Iranian history and the human rights issues of the day will serve us well moving forward. In this time of increased international engagement with the Iranian government, Mr. Sanjabi’s deep knowledge of Iran’s affairs will help us secure the human rights objectives we seek for the benefit of Iranian civil society and the Iranian people.”
Mr. Sanjabi rejoins IHRDC after receiving the Robina Foundation Human Rights Fellowship at Yale Law School. Prior to that, as a legal analyst at IHRDC, Mr. Sanjabi led field investigations in Europe, Canada and Malaysia to collect documentation and interview survivors of ethnic and religious persecution perpetrated by the Iranian government, as well as other human rights abuses. In his time at IHRDC, Mr. Sanjabi produced comprehensive reports and releases on minority rights, academic freedom issues, free and fair elections and the treatment of political prisoners in Iran, and represented IHRDC on the world stage at conferences in South Africa, Turkey and Germany.
Mr. Sanjabi completed his undergraduate studies at Yale University, with a focus on economic history and the modern Middle East, and received his law degree from the Washington University School of Law. Prior to his time with IHRDC, Mr. Sanjabi worked on rule of law issues during postings in India and Cambodia, and taught university courses on international relations and international trade in Russia.
In assuming the post of Executive Director, Mr. Sanjabi takes over for the group’s out-going Executive Director, Gissou Nia, who will be joining the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, effective November 2014.
IHRDC is a nonprofit organization based in New Haven, Connecticut that was founded in 2004 by a group of human rights scholars, activists, and historians. Its staff of human rights lawyers and researchers produce comprehensive and detailed reports on the human rights situation in Iran. IHRDC’s goal is to encourage an informed dialogue among scholars and the general public in both Iran and abroad. The human rights reports and a database of documents relating to human rights in Iran are available to the public for research and educational purposes on IHRDC’s website. www.iranhrdc.org.
For further information, please contact:
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
Tel: (203) 772-2218
Email: info@iranhrdc.org
