Ahmad Zeidabadi was born in 1965 in Zeidabad, Kerman, Iran. A notable Iranian journalist, academic, writer and political analyst and the secretary general of Office for Strengthening Unity, he is one of the notable figures of the Iranian reform movement. Ahmad Zeidabadi Zeidabadi has been arrested multiple times for his journalistic work. In June 2009, shortly after the Iranian presidential election, Zeidabadi was arrested and held in conditions which the World Association of Newspapers called "horrific.". In December 2009, Zeidabadi was sentenced to six years in prison.

Zeidabadi is the winner of the World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom Award for 2010. Background Zeidabadi holds a doctorate degree in international relations from Tehran University. His PhD thesis topic was "Religion and Government in Israel". His articles appeared in many newspapers and other media such as Rooz and BBC Persian. Zeidabadi's professional work as a journalist started when he joined Ettela'at newspaper in 1989. He also worked with Hamshahri newspaper as well as other reformist newspapers which started being published after Iran's election in 1997.He is the secretary general of Office for Strengthening Unity and is one of the notable figures in Iranian reform movement. He is a member of the board of Iran's Journalists' Union. He has always kept defending ethnic and religious minority rights with his articles. He also is an expert on the Middle East crisis and has many articles supporting the peace process. While he was not aggressive and did not insult anybody in his articles, he did not compromise anything in fighting for minority rights. His courage and integrity has been admired even by many of his colleagues that did not share the same political views with him on many issues.