Majid Rafizadeh

Majid Rafizadeh, (, born 25 December 1980 in Iran) is an Iranian-Syrian scholar, journalist, political analyst, Middle East commentator, and human rights activist. Rafizadeh is president of the International American Council on the Middle East, serves on the board of the Harvard International Review, is a member of the Gulf 2000 Middle East Project of the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs and is a columnist and contributing editor for Aljazeera and Abu Dhabi's The National.

Biography
Rafizadeh's father is Iranian (Persian) and his mother is Syrian. The family struggled to survive while his father remained unemployed. Rafizadeh was the first of the family's 13 children to graduate from school in Syria and Iran, and later attended college and university while spending some nights homeless and without shelter in both countries. His mixed Iranian and Syrian heritage meant he grew up knowing both distinct cultures and speaking both Arabic and Farsi (the Persian language). Rafizadeh points out that this gave him a deep insight into the socio-religious and socio-political traditions of both the Persian and Arab Worlds.

After completing postgraduate studies and winning a Fulbright teaching scholarship, Rafizadeh traveled to the United States and lectured in the religious studies department at University of California, Santa Barbara. He was a contributing editor at the Harvard International Review, a columnist for The National, and a guest editor at Voice of America. . Rafizadeh is on the board of Commission on Syrian Refugees.

Rafizadeh was the president of a human rights organization in Iran and Syria which spoke against alleged corruption, lack of freedom of assembly, the press and speech by the Syrian and Iranian governments. He has been harassed and threatened by Syria's al-mukhabarat (Military Intelligence Directorate), and Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and volunteer militia, Basij.

According to France 24, Rafizadeh's cousin, Jawad Saadi, and his uncle Moyassar Saadi, were kidnapped following an uprising in Syria. They were reportedly taken by a pro-Assad governmental group in a campaign to silence Rafizadeh. According to CNN, his cousin, four-year-old girl and her father, were shot while returning from school, and two other of Rafizadeh's cousins were shot dead.