Potkin Azarmehr

Vice-Chair

Potkin Azarmehr left Iran for the UK after the “Cultural Revolution”, an event that took place one year after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, where all the secular academics and students were sacked and the universities across the country were closed down for two years until new syllabi were written for higher education in the Islamic Republic. Even though he was a teenager at the time and still at school, this to him was a clear case of wrong and right and one that he had to stand on the side of resisting extremism and intolerance.

Potkin started blogging in 2005, and his blog is in English and covers Iranian news which doesn't make it to the mass media. In February 2009, he won the The International Council for Press and Broadcasting Media Award in the 'Cutting Edge New Media category.' Over the years, his blog has become very influential and a reference source on the pro-democracy secular struggle in Iran. In 2010, during the peak of the post-election protests in Iran, the number of unique visitors accessing the blog went past 90,000.

He is currently a contributor to several newspapers and Television stations on Iran related news and also writes and produces a number of TV programs.