But it's prison, not death, that scares the 19-year-old most. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: (Through interpreter) We Iranians are protesting for this regime to go.įADEL: They all know what they're doing could mean prison or worse. In a suburb of Tehran, we reach a 63-year-old retired high school principal. They slapped me on the face.įADEL: And yet, he continues. They beat me up with a baton and with a metal stick on my legs and the sides of my body. They pulled my T-shirt over my head so that I couldn't see anything. It was so tight that I still sometimes feel a pain in my wrists. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Through interpreter) They handcuffed me from the back using plastic ties. In Isfahan, we reach a 21-year-old student who's already been arrested once for protesting. She's inhaled so much tear gas when she started demonstrating. Unfortunately, there was nothing we could do because they are the ones with the weapons.įADEL: Every once in a while, she pauses to apologize for her cough. I've seen boys and girls arrested in the most brutal way. On the news, I see my brothers and sisters are taken away, killed and raped. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Through interpreter) If I want to describe these protests to you, it's like a war none of you have ever seen. So I just want a happiness and I don't have it. I cannot have better future in this country, in this situation. I want a good home, good car, good - I don't know - husband, maybe. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: I'm a teenaged girl. So you can understand why the people who sent us voice memos from Iran don't want us to identify them, including that student you heard. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).įADEL: And they're still demonstrating despite a state crackdown that has left hundreds dead, despite the fact that thousands more are detained and despite the death sentences the Iranian judiciary began handing out to protesters last week on charges that include being an enemy of God and corruption on Earth. And she was known to her friends and family by her Kurdish name, Jina. Amini was Kurdish, a marginalized community in Iran. And for more than two months, they've been among the tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people who've been protesting against the government since Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, died in police custody after being arrested because her hijab was too loose. And, no, we cannot say anything.įADEL: They live in Iran. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: It's really dangerous for us talking. The people you're about to hear are speaking out at great risk to their lives, like this 19-year-old student.

Yaya iran proud