Drawing on a lifelong passion for wildlife and environmental conservation, Morad co-founded the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation in 2008. He and his team worked directly with the Iranian Government's Department of Environment and the United Nations Development Program to save critically endangered Asiatic cheetahs and other species native to Iran. The Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation would grow to become the largest wildlife and habitat conservation NGO in Iran.

In November of 2017, Morad was returning home to Connecticut in the United States of America from a conservation trip when he was prevented from leaving Iran. Shortly after, on January 10, 2018, he was wrongfully detained by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards. Blindfolded, handcuffed, and taken to Evin Prison, he was used as a pawn for political negotiations.

His wife, Vida Tahbaz, was placed on a travel ban. Unable to leave Tehran, she was torn from her family and everything she knew. Their three children wouldn’t see their parents for the next six years.

In November 2019, Morad was tried behind closed doors without due process. Under falsified espionage convictions, he was sentenced to ten years in prison.

With a history of cancer, his life was at risk every day of his imprisonment. He was frequently tortured and denied medical care. Despite all odds against him, his admirable mental strength and resilience, coupled with applying his lifelong mentality that one should always strive to find a means of making it through impossible circumstances, Morad forged through these trying times channeling his passion for art, wildlife, and environmental conservation, in addition to the love for his family.

During Morad’s incarceration, creating works of art became a vital tool to survive his darkest days. The practice ultimately helped him maintain his sanity and spirit until he was released.

Learn More