Hasan Yousefi Eshkevari (born 1950) is an Iranian cleric, researcher, journalist, reformist and former political prisoner. He has been described as “an active supporter of the revolution” who became “an outspoken and influential critic of the current Iranian version of theocracy.”
Eshkevari was the founder and director of the Ali Shariati Research Centre. He was also contributing editor of the newspaper Iran-e Farda, which was banned in April 2000. He was a prolific contributor to the Great Islamic Encyclopedia, and an editor of the Encyclopedia of the Shia, both edited in Tehran.
On 5 August 2000, Eshkevari was arrested after returning from the ‘Iran After the Elections’ Conference held in Berlin 7–9 April 2000, in Berlin, Germany.
n 2002 he was convicted in the Special Court for the Clergy for a number of charges including “spreading lies, insulting Islamic sanctities.” He was defrocked by the Islamic Republic and served four years in prison before and after his conviction. During the crackdown on protests over the 2009 presidential elections in Iran, Eshkevari fled to Germany to seek political asylum.