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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Rachel Salvidge

‘They called me a water terrorist’: exiled Iranian scientist wins global prize

Prof Kaveh Madani in his office at the UN
Prof Kaveh Madani says he is ‘encouraged and humbled’ – though the moment is bittersweet amid the war in Iran. Photograph: Kv Dhunna/UNU-INWEH

Eight years before he got the call telling him he had won the Stockholm water prize, Prof Kaveh Madani was being interrogated by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, accused of being a spy for the CIA, MI6 or the Mossad.

Today he is in exile and on Wednesday won the world’s most prestigious water prize for combining “groundbreaking research on water management with policy, diplomacy and global outreach, often under personal risk and political complexity”.

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