Jila Baniyaghoob (or Zhīlā Banī Yaʻqūb, Persian: ژيلا بنى يعقوب ; born 21 August 1970) is an Iranian journalist and women's rights activist. She is the editor-in-chief of the website Kanoon Zanan Irani ("Focus on Iranian Women"). Baniyaghoob is married to fellow journalist Bahman Ahmadi Amou'i, an editor at Sarmayeh, a business newspaper. Early life Baniyaghoob was born on 21 August 1970, in Iran. As a young child in Iran, Baniyaghoob was exposed to the political atmosphere very young. She was surrounded by chaos and political influence for most of her childhood, but it wasn't until 1979 when Jila Baniyaghoob became a journalist. She was 11 years old at the time when she wrote and published a short story about children and poverty in a major daily newspaper called Kayhan. While she was young, many of her teachers encouraged her talent in writing. These teachers were politically engaged against the conservative who had taken over the country of Iran, some of which were arrested and persecuted for their political views. This gave Baniyaghoob the insight behind the political atmosphere starting from a young age and used it as an early building block for her career in covering politics as well as the economic factors of discrimination against women. Career in journalism Baniyaghoob began her career as a journalist while working for the daily newspaper Hamshahri while attending college at Allameh Tabatabayi University. Baniyaghoob has worked for many publications since college such as Sarmayeh newspaper, and now as editor-in-chief of the website Kanoon Zanan Irani where contributors inside and outside of Iran provide news about women's issues. Her site has been repeatedly filtered by the Iranian government. Baniyaghoob is known for being a freelance Iranian reporter, author, and activist who focuses her reporting on how government and social oppression affect women. As a journalist, Baniyaghoob has faced numerous ramifications and has been arrested, beaten and imprisoned on numerous occasions for her reporting. While working for the Sarmayeh newspaper, Baniyaghoob started a column on women's economy, which featured interviews with experts on the gender issues of economics. The column was canceled in 2008 by the paper's management. Baniyaghoob traveled throughout the Middle East, including Afghanistan, Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria from 2001–2002. She has written about women and refugees she encountered on her trip, covering issues of social and legal discrimination. Baniyaghoob was arrested in June 2006, when security forces attacked a peaceful