Rudi Bakhtiar, Director of Communications

Rudi Bakhtiar is an international human rights activist and Director of Communications of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.  Previously, Rudi played an instrumental role in launching The Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans, PAAIA, as its Director of Public Relations.

Rudi is best known for her decade long experience at CNN, where as a producer and reporter, she covered conflicts in Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Africa, Israel and Palestine. She was quickly promoted to anchor for CNN Newsroom, which was nominated for an Emmy award that year.

In 2002, Rudi was promoted again to lead news anchor for CNN’s Headline News Tonight, covering major news events such as the September 11^th attacks and the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. She also was assigned to Anderson Cooper 360, where she appeared nightly as the special assignment correspondent and anchored the show in Cooper’s absence.

Born in California, Rudi moved to Iran at the age of five, where she lived until 17. She returned to the United States and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from the University of California, Los Angeles.