Foot loose, and then not so much

The world is a strange place, and I don’t mean all the crazy things that are happening, wars and political negotiations, the floods, and avalanches, or even all the mysteries and murders, but one simple thing and that is the unfair distribution of freedom. How is it possible that in one part of this earth, there are dance competitions, dance classes, ballets, tango, mariachis singing, and a constant overflow of happiness but only a few continents over people are being detained for dancing and singing in the streets? In this day and age, people really like to talk about victimhood, and many try to identify with it but I have always viewed the people of my country as the biggest and the realest examples of victims of circumstance. Victims of a situation that was created for them and not by them. Through no fault of their own, they are being dragged by a raging current of foul historical decisions.

Guilan is a city located in the northern part of Iran. A sapphire under constant clouds of rain and thunder provides one hundred percent of the county’s rice. And apart from the most delicious food, it is also home to the happiest people you’ll ever see. A happiness that has been stifled under decades of oppression and greed. A few days ago a video went viral from Rasht, the capital city of Guilan, of a 70-year-old man dancing and singing a traditional song for a crowd of people while they cheered him on. It was a few moments of pure joy, but it was short-lived as the authorities found him, deactivated his Instagram account, and started investigating him and everyone present around this blasphemy. The news of his arrest provoked a national outrage and standing up for our fellow citizens is punishable by law but Iranians, contrary to their own beliefs, always have each other’s backs. Since Sadegh, the 70-year-old singer and dancer started being investigated, an overwhelming number of videos have been surfacing of people dancing and singing with the same music as a form of protest, hinting to the authorities to “come and get us”. The news of the apprehension and investigation of Sadegh Booghi has been dominating the Iranian news outlets inside and outside of the country. This amount of media attention caused the Iranian authorities to back down, release him, and give him back his Instagram account. Even one of the anchors on one of the national channels stated that this was too far.

Now the scare and the stress may have been enough for Sadegh to give up on his hobby forever but the spirit of comradery, cooperation, and solidarity among the people of a country under constant suffocation, oppression, and persecution was something to see. This may not become worldwide as we are constantly being bombarded by the overwhelming flow of news every single day but this is a small victory for the people of Iran who despite all the adversities and calamities manage to find joy in small things.

Freedom by murder

Battered women awaiting execution

“When I saw him take her clothes off, I couldn’t take it anymore” These are the words of a death row inmate named “Fatemeh” who was sentenced to death for strangling her husband to death. She was just a child when she was forced into marrying a man she barely knew and before their first anniversary, she was already a mom to a baby girl. She wasn’t happy about having a daughter knowing a similar fate may await her. She shares her story in a documentary called Murder or murdered by Mahvash sheikhol eslami. Mahvash sits down with dozens of death row inmates with similar stories, every single one is a victim of child marriage and domestic abuse.

Before the Iranian revolution in 1979, the legal age for women to get married was 18 years but after the revolution, it was reduced to 9 years old. Independent Farsi reported that in 2020, twenty-seven thousand girls got married under the age of 15 however the number could be much larger, as some families lie to the court about their children’s age to be able to obtain a marriage license. Based on figures published by Iran’s census registration bureau, in 2021 791 babies were born in the span of only 6 months from mothers aged 10-14.

Fatemeh weeps as she recounts the events of that fateful night. “He was high out of his mind on meth, I heard some banging coming from one of the bedrooms, I opened the door and saw my husband trying to undress my fifteen-year-old daughter. She was a heavy girl, but she could not move. She tried to push him away but every time her hand touched his naked body she would pull away out of disgust. When he took her bra off and held her head backward, I couldn’t contain myself anymore. I had to kill him. I strangled him, I just tightened my hands around his neck, I don’t know for how long, 20 maybe 30 minutes.”

In Iran, women and girls do not benefit from the law. The law is written against them. Self-defense would not hold up very well in court. The judges are all religious men. The women are guilty until proven innocent which does not happen very often. The institutions of the Islamic Republic have failed to take the necessary measures and to pass any laws to support security of women in their family and society.

 One prime example is the case of Reyhane Jabbari which caught the attention of the international media and human rights activists a few years ago. She was convicted of murdering Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a former agent of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence. Reyhane claimed that Abdol Abadi lured her into his apartment where he attempted to rape her, but she stabbed him in self-defense. Reyhane also claimed he was alive when she fled the scene, and his wounds were not fatal. The court did not accept her defense convicted her of first-degree murder and sentenced her to death by hanging. Amnesty International, the United Nations, and the European Union had lobbied for her life to be spared. Her punishment was postponed from the original date April 2014, but she was eventually executed in October 2014.

The story does not end here. Samira Sabzian is the most recent victim of the gender apartheid in Iran. She was sentenced to death and eventually executed for killing his violent husband. She got married at the age of 15 and according to her relatives, she was a victim of domestic abuse. Today there are no laws in place in Iran to protect women and children.

The turning point

Everyone in their lives has that one moment where it changed them forever. After September 2022 I was never the person I used to be. I don’t even know that person anymore. after a year of not writing in my blog, I came here reading things I’m pretty sure a stranger wrote. But what happened in September? Mahsa died. I didn’t know her. I have never met her before in fact I never knew she existed before she died but her death changed the entire course of my life. Mahsa Amini the Kurdish-Iranian girl who was killed by the morality police. The kind of police that roams around the streets like the death eaters looking for joy to steal. Morality police use force to arrest women who are wearing their hijab too loosely or “incorrectly”. She became the symbol of freedom, the key to the awakening of all of us. I have been an activist for Iranian rights for as long as I can remember. I left Iran because as a journalist my life was in danger but Mahsa’s death was a huge wake-up call for me. it was like a huge bucket of ice water was dumped on my top head while sound asleep. For years I had the opportunity to be loud. I wasn’t in Iran anymore, I hadn’t been for 10 years but what I called activism wasn’t impactful enough, it wasn’t loud enough, I had forgotten that I left a battlefield and people like Mahsa behind. after her death protests broke out, one of the bloodiest protests in Iranian history and it went on for months despite everyone’s assumption that it was going to die down within a few days. We were all awakened by the same bucket of ice water. We let them win for decades, we let them suffocate us with extremism and religion. we let them inflict too much pain, we let them tear our families apart, we let it come too far and frankly, Mahsa’s death was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Waiting for the more powerful governments to condemn the constant human rights violation was futile. So the brave people of Iran took matters into their own hands and fought for weeks on the streets, thousands were arrested and brutally murdered, and many of them were executed but this time I was loud, we were all loud. For months I reported as much as I could. putting my parents’ lives in danger but their bravery was contagious, I didn’t want to sit back and cower in a corner while people were being mowed down.

after a while protests did die down, this happens when a government uses death and destruction to prolong its existence, and people finally back down, the difference this time was that none of us is going to fall asleep again. the fight lives on.

women on the front line

Women’s uprising in Iran

As the second anniversary of one of the darkest days in Iranian history approaches, the women’s role in the uprising of November 2019 is undeniable. As of today, there are hundreds of female Iranian political prisoners serving sentences ranging from one to 25 years.

Looking at the people’s uprising in Iran over the years women’s participation is becoming more pronounced. There is one question that is asked here what made this happen? What made the Iranian women take it upon themselves to win back not only their rights back but the whole county’s?

Reza shah Pahlavi introduced a brand-new point of view for heavily suppressed women of Qajar in 1925, After Pahlavi took over the Qajar Dynasty, women were awarded more and more rights such as education, more liberal clothing choices, and all these new opportunities ignited the flame for women to start thriving in the society. After the revolution in 1979, some of these freedoms began to be revoked however these new rules and restrictions were soon to be challenged again, this time not by a man but by women themselves.

https://institute.global/policy/protests-and-polling-insights-streets-iran-how-removal-hijab-became-symbol-regime-change

As time went by and social media started to pave its way into people’s lives, it became easier for Iranian women to ask for more liberties. And the fight still goes on. Social media has had a huge role in helping people get their words out. In recent years the number of female political prisoners has been rising because a new generation of women is saying enough is enough out loud however in a society where a woman’s voice is considered Haram, this does not sit well with the Iranian authorities. Since the popularity of platforms such as Instagram and Facebook have increased there have been numerous campaigns to battle different issues that Iranian women face in society every day.

Immigration has also helped a lot of Iranian students to come out of their shells and start trying to be heard. Freedom in foreign countries granted the opportunity for Iranian women the to talk about the issues they left behind.

Some women decided to leave, and some decide to stay but all work towards one purpose and that’s freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom of their minds and bodies from the patriarchal regime. And in this endeavor education, social media, and immigration gave a huge helping hand to them and got them one step close to achieving their goals

beginning of the end

Revolutionary guard police dressed in black on motorcycles armed with guns and buttons riding towards the crowd of people running away in all directions. It’s like the dementors raining down on Hogwarts planning to suck the life out of the living. The revolutionary guard police killed and arrested around 3000 people during the protests in June and July of 2009.

The 2009 protests may have been one of the largest political uprisings in the history of Iran, but it was not the first one. The protests before that went unnoticed because of the absence of social media. As much as the Iranian regime tried to keep the world from the horrors happening inside the country the appearance of social media made it impossible to do so. With Facebook's popularity rising the stories of the protesters found their way to the global platforms. In the later years, Iranian journalists were given opportunities to be a medium for people inside Iran. Masih Alinejad is one of the journalists who has been working tirelessly for years to help the political prisoners and the families of those who were killed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. She receives hundreds of videos every day from people who raised their phones instead of their voices and documented the injustice whether it was a girl being arrested over not wearing her hijab or inappropriate behaviors from members of the clergy, these videos are making a big difference.

Ever since 2009 platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook have been the protester’s holly grail. Internet is their only way to communicate with the outside world, unfortunately, however, organizations like United Nations Human Rights Council have failed to take any actions against the human rights violations in Iran.

The social media platforms continue to promote a safe space for the Iranian people who do not have freedom of speech or press, many celebrities and journalists benefit from the freedom that their platforms provide, even though Twitter and Facebook are blocked and are accessed by proxy through VPN, Iranians has always found a way around the system.

‘’our phones are our weapons’’ Masih Alinejad always ends her Instagram posts with this quote that basically summarizes all her hard work throughout the years and shows a strong connection that freedom and technology.

murder of Sattar Beheshti

35-year-old Iranian blogger, Sattar Beheshti was arrested in his home on October 30th, taken to police custody for publishing articles that was against the Islamic regime and spreading false information about the supreme leader. He was later interrogated by being hung from the ceiling and was severely tortured and beaten. He reportedly complained about bruises and broken bones to his cellmate and said that the prison authorities were planning to kill him.

 one week before his death he signed complaint that he was torture and suffered multiple blows to the head, he wrote "I want to write that if anything happens to me, the police are responsible" 

 on November 6th the authorities told his family to ''collect his body''

 Ever since Sattar’s death, his mother Gohar Eshghi, still in black, has not been silent despite the constant threats from the Iranian government towards her other children, she is still hopeful to one day bring justice for her son. She has written endless letter to the world’s authorities just to bring awareness and keep his son’s name alive. And after all these years thousands like Sattar has been arrested and murdered however the international community is as always silent and does not give the attention that these people deserve. Looking at everything that has happened in the past year, we can confidently conclude that widespread attention to injustice is easily gained. Journalist like me and mothers like Gohar Eshghi will never stop advocating for heroes like Sattar.

Remembering Zahra

July 11th is anniversary of Zahra Kazemi's death. The Iranian Canadian photojournalist that was arrested outside of one of Evin prison one the most notorious prisons in the world. But I'm certain that even the devil himself would be ashamed and horrified by what happens in that prison. Any man would be surprised by the depth of evil that exists inside those walls. 

 Zahra Kazemi died under suspicious circumstances in Evin prison, later the prison's doctor revealed that she was severely #tortured. 

She was initially admitted to the hospital for stomach bleeding but later the nurse called the doctor to inform him that she was having troubles performing an endoscopy on her, the doctor then witnessed the horror that would haunts him to this day.

 The officials tried to convenience everyone that she died from a preexisting condition, but the medical examiner reported that she died from a blow to the head by blunt object.

 She also had a severely broken nose, broken ribs, broken finger, bruises on every inch of her body, signs of severe sexual #abuse with an object, her perineum was ruptured, nails missing, the list goes on and on. 

 One of the two Iranian intelligence agents charged with her death was acquitted in September 2003. The other agent, Mohammed Reza Aghdam-Ahmadi, was charged with "semi-intentional murder" and his trial opened in Tehran in October 2003. In the same month, the Iranian parliament condemned Saeed Mortazavi, a Tehran prosecutor, for announcing that Kazemi had died of a stroke. On 25 July 2004, Aghdam-Ahmadi was acquitted. Saeed Mortazavi was never charged.

New York

Before I get into the rest of the story, I would like to share the latest photos of where I live at the moment. So this is the first time that I’m sharing my story and my photos publicly. I suffer from a condition which I grew up with , a condition that may be called obsessive thoughts or maybe not. Since I was little my mom told me of I share my lifestyle and my success with people even as close as my friends and family , bad things would happen or I would lose everything and I haven’t been able to get rid of this thing that my mom planted in my head , because every time I thought to myself oh forget it , it’s not even real and I shared , it ended up being scratched but now I wanna come out of that shell , I wanna share , I wanna over come my fear of losing things because I shared. and if anyone out there lives with a condition such as mine please reach out to me , because even writing this is making me sweat and I keep thinking about negative things. some may say I need a therapist , yes I do. But at the moment all I can afford is a domain.

Anyways , a few weeks ago I move to New York , If you want to see how I got here then follow my blog , I post a piece of my story everyday.

So far I love it , it is just so mesmerizing and beautiful and it screams opportunity. I feel like anyone can follow their dreams here and as Ralph Lauren himself says : ‘‘any one can enter the American dream’’ , This is it , this is the place where you can be hopeful , regardless of who you are and what color you are, you can embrace your American dream and I can smell this in the air. Just like Rimini. Oh I will tell you about Rimini , it is the last place I lived in Italy , the whole city is not even the size of Queens but the smell is the same. That actually helped me to get over my home sickness and move on.

This is one of the first photos I took from New York.

How it all started

Let me tell you how it all started, 5 years ago I decided to go to Italy and study, I have had the dream of moving out and having a life on my own for a very long time and now there it was this opportunity right in front of me and I took it, I got into the university of Bologna and packed two very heavy suitcases, said goodbye to my very clingy family and embarked upon this new journey which I was very excited about and had so many plans but in just very few months I was in for a big surprise. Because very soon I realized I… am … an Immigrant in a city that is not very accepting. I don’t want to use the word country because If you keep reading my blog you will see that Bologna may have been an exception, among other cities.

Bologna is located in the northeast of Italy just about 2 hours south of Venice and far away from anything good. The first days were amazing everything was new to me, I took hundreds of pictures, I found myself alone and I had my whole life ahead of me. I still remember the butterflies in my stomach, I felt strong and happy, but all this was short-lived.

to be continued