Testimony
Protest in Iran: "With each new death, anger rises and violence with it"
A gathering of protesters on the campus of Tehran University on October 7, 2022. © AP
Text by: Oriane Verdier Follow
4 mins
As the repression hardens in Iran, testimonies leaving the country are increasingly rare.
RFI was able to reach a young Iranian refugee in Turkey, she chooses to carry the voice of her relatives who are demonstrating in Iran.
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RFI: You have chosen to entrust us with your testimony using the assumed name of Mahsa. Why is it important for you to maintain your anonymity?
Mahsa:
Why is anonymity important to me?
Or more generally, why is it important for any Iranian?
In Iran, we live in a stifling environment which is due to a very powerful intelligence system.
I live abroad, but my whole family is still in Iran.
The authorities could use all their means against me if I do something in my name.
Especially since it is said that Turkey is the hidden court of the Islamic Republic.
They won't necessarily kill me, but they know how to use terror.
They annihilate the person, his personality, his dignity.
It's scary...really.
Several of your relatives have joined you in Turkey in recent days. What situation did they describe to you on the spot?
The situation is unique, but it has hardened and gotten worse.
Now there are mobilizations in any street, any neighborhood, even in a small town or village.
Even on the balconies of their homes, people are shouting slogans.
►Also read: Iran: two months after the death of Mahsa Amini, the fear of the worst seizes exiles and NGOs
This is the first time it's happened in Iran.
Previous times, people would meet in a specific street at a specific time.
But now there are lots of small groups everywhere, everything is fragmented.
It is because of this that the regime cannot control the movement easily.
So they go to where the biggest gatherings are and he controls there.
But there is something that remains fixed in the history of this regime, it is that repression passes by all means.
They infuse fear and surround the people socially, economically, politically, culturally.
One day, they use plastic bullets against the demonstrators and then live ammunition and there are deaths.
In the city of Mahabad for example, they use tanks.
Not to mention the arrests in the streets.
They also enter people's homes.
If they know that a demonstrator lives there, they enter their home.
Faced with the hardening of repression, are the demonstrators also becoming more violent?
Yes, that's for sure, it's more violent than before.
People taking to the streets are much more pissed off than before.
We celebrated the 40ᵉ day of mourning of Mahsa Amini, then that of Sarina then that of such and such.
The fact that people continue to be there successively shows that they are pissed off.
With each new death, anger rises and violence with it.
The way things are unfolding makes the regime rekindle the fire of this violence even more.
►Also read: Iran: faced with the repression of demonstrations, "people are trying other forms of action"
I would like to add that the state is sending the message that the protests are concentrated against the compulsory veil.
At least that's what they tell the police.
But in reality, the question is not there.
Much more is at stake than that.
In Iran, freedom of expression does not exist, we have forced marriage of minors, state corruption which is very present, bribes, embezzlement.
Religion becomes one with politics.
It is something very dangerous.
The culture of the Iranian people is denied.
In one word, I must say: We Iranians have the right to have better leaders than these.
We must not let our rage transform us.
This rage that inhabits today's mothers, the demonstrators.
Everything is suffering, everything is turned into tragedy in our history.
They took away our dignity and our respect.
Do you think Iranian society is ready for this big change?
It's a very difficult question.
The French revolution itself took time to bear fruit and arrive at what the country is today.
But I hope that we can take the first steps in any case.
Finally, the first steps were taken in the Kadjar era in 1800 and we are still on the move.
I just wish there was a catalyst, an awareness in society that pushes for things to happen, for the opening to happen.
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