And for millions of us, it means displacement.
My parents and I were granted political asylum in Aotearoa New Zealand when I was nine years old. We were never to return to Iran. Like most Iranian refugees, as long as the Islamic regime remains in power, our fear of persecution persists.
We have missed the births and death of loved ones. But what the world has learned over the past 60+ days of revolution in Iran is that exiled Iranians have never lost our fervent connection with the plight of our people back home.
I hope that sends a chill down the spine of the Iranian regime.
What is stunning is that our movement today is global, led by the breathtaking courage of protesters in Iran and amplified by Iranians around the world. None of us have slept a full night in the two months since the death of Mahsa Amini, the young Kurdish woman who died in the custody of the "morality police" after being arrested under hijab laws. She became a symbol of our pain. Every one of us has known the violence of that regime. Every Iranian knows someone flogged, detained, tortured, or killed.
This story is from the November 18, 2022 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
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This story is from the November 18, 2022 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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