Amir Abbas Fakhravar (Siavash), is an Iranian jailed dissident, award-winning writer, and the recipient of the prestigious Annie Taylor Award. He is the founder of The National Iranian Congress and President of the Iranian Freedom Institute in Washington, D.C. Currently, he is an adjunct faculty at the Texas State University who teaches Comparative Constitutional Law, Political Crimes, and International Crimes. Fakhravar spent over five years in jail and suffered brutal torture in jail in Iran.

His treatment in the Islamic Republic jails has been described as the first known example of “white torture” in Iran by Amnesty International. According to Amnesty International, the cells had no windows, and everything was entirely colored creamy white. The meal was white rice on a white paper plate. If he wanted to use the toilet, he had to put a white slip of paper under the door of the cell to alert guards who reportedly had footwear designed to muffle any sound. Amir Fakhravar has testified before the Senate Homeland Security Committee and the House Foreign Affairs on U.S-Iran relations, Foreign Policy, U.S. government broadcasting, and Iran’s Nuclear issues. Fakhravar among his CIS team briefed parliament members at the European Parliament and Parliament of Finland, the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Parliament of Israel, the Parliament of Germany, and the Parliament of Canada. He has been a foreign affairs and Iran expert at FOX News, Alhurra, CNN, CBN, VOA, CBS, and Newsmax TV.