Morteza

Ramita Navai was a journalist in Tehran when she began writing City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death and the Search for Truth in Tehran, published in 2014.

It tells the real stories of people whose lives were affected by the regime - stories that were often censored. Names and some details have been changed to protect people.

Morteza is young Basiji (Islamic militia). A woman turns up at his door to ask for his help - a friend from his youth has murdered one of their old commanders, and needs Morteza's help.

Ramita Navai is a double Emmy and Robert F. Kennedy award winning foreign affairs journalist, documentary maker and author who has reported from over 45 countries.

After starting her career as the Tehran correspondent for The Times, she joined Channel 4’s acclaimed foreign affairs documentary series Unreported World. Her investigations included the war in South Sudan, blood diamonds in Zimbabwe, sex trafficking in Mexico, gang assassins in El Salvador, and the war in Syria.

Her investigative documentaries on the war against ISIS, Shia militias in Iraq, sexual abuse among UN peacekeepers, corruption and rape in India and women’s rights in Afghanistan have won many awards. Her latest documentary Gaza: Doctors Under Attack for Channel 4 has been nominated for a BAFTA.

Her book City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death and the Search for Truth in Tehran won the Debut Political Book and was awarded the Royal Society of Literature's Jerwood Prize for non-fiction. It has been translated into six languages.

She is the creator and host of THE LINE OF FIRE, a top 10 Apple podcast about the moment of facing death.

She is the recipient of the Women in Film and TV Award recognising outstanding achievement by a woman in news.