Fathi was born in Tehran in 1970. Her father was a senior civil servant in the Ministry of Energy. She studied English at
Azad University, and while there began working as a translator for foreign reporters. Frustrated by the Iranian government's multi-year press accreditation process, Fathi moved to Canada in 1999 and became a Canadian citizen. She earned an MA in political science and women's studies from the
University of Toronto in 2001 before returning to Tehran as a correspondent for
The New York Times. During the
2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Fathi and other journalists reported on the violence by the Iranian government against peaceful protestors. In early 2009, the Iranian government banned international journalists from covering the protests, but Fathi continued to report. Other journalists were arrested by Iranian authorities. Fathi was placed under surveillance by the government, and threats were made against her life. In July 2009, she and her family left Iran for Canada. She subsequently became an associate at
Harvard's Belfer Center, a
Nieman Fellow, and a
Shorenstein Fellow. Fathi's book
The Lonely War was published by
Basic Books in November 2014 and received international recognition. In later years, she has written and spoken widely on freedom of the press and women’s rights in Iran. ==Bibliography==