The Most Famous
EXTREMISTS from Iran
This page contains a list of the greatest Iranian Extremists. The pantheon dataset contains 283 Extremists, 2 of which were born in Iran. This makes Iran the birth place of the 27th most number of Extremists behind South Korea, and Canada.
Top 3
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Iranian Extremists of all time. This list of famous Iranian Extremists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Mohammed Bijeh (1982 - 2006)
With an HPI of 36.42, Mohammed Bijeh is the most famous Iranian Extremist. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages on wikipedia.
Mohammed Bijeh (Persian: محمد بيجه; 21 May 1970 – 16 March 2005) was an Iranian serial killer. He was convicted of raping and killing 54 young boys between July 2002 and September 2004, and was sentenced to 100 lashes followed by execution. All the boys were between 8 and 15 years old. The murder of children around Tehran was recognized as the largest criminal case in contemporary Iranian history and strongly influenced public opinion in the country.
2. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (b. 1978)
With an HPI of 33.26, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is the 2nd most famous Iranian Extremist. Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe (née Zaghari; Persian: نازنین زاغری; born 26 December 1978) is an Iranian-British dual citizen who was detained in Iran from 3 April 2016 to 16 March 2022 as part of a long-running dispute between Britain and Iran. In early September 2016, she was sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of plotting to topple the Iranian government. While in prison, she went on at least three hunger strikes trying to persuade Iranian authorities to provide medical treatment for her health problems. She was temporarily released on 17 March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, but subject to electronic monitoring. In October 2017, the prosecutor general of Tehran made a new claim that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was being held for running "a BBC Persian online journalism course which was aimed at recruiting and training people to spread propaganda against Iran". Zaghari-Ratcliffe has always denied the spying charges against her, and her husband maintains that his wife "was imprisoned as leverage for a debt owed by the UK over its failure to deliver tanks to Iran in 1979." On 7 March 2021, her original sentence ended, but she was scheduled to face a second set of charges on 14 March. On 26 April, she was found guilty of propaganda activities against the government and sentenced to another year in prison. She appealed but on 16 October 2021, her appeal was rejected by the Iranian court. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was finally released on 16 March 2022 immediately after Britain repaid an outstanding debt of £393.8 million to Iran. She returned to the United Kingdom the next day.
3. Atefeh Sahaaleh (1987 - 2004)
With an HPI of 32.42, Atefeh Sahaaleh is the 3rd most famous Iranian Extremist. Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Atefeh Rajabi Sahaaleh (Persian: عاطفه رجبی سهاله; September 21, 1987 – August 15, 2004) was an Iranian girl from the town of Neka who was executed a week after being sentenced to death by Haji Rezai, head of Neka's court, on charges of adultery and crimes against chastity after being repeatedly raped.
People
Pantheon has 3 people classified as Iranian extremists born between 1978 and 1987. Of these 3, 1 (33.33%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Iranian extremists include Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. The most famous deceased Iranian extremists include Mohammed Bijeh, and Atefeh Sahaaleh. As of April 2024, 1 new Iranian extremists have been added to Pantheon including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
