The protests in Iran dominate the life of the Iranian Sara Nozohour from Eindhoven. Her parents, stepbrother, sister, grandmother and many friends still live in the country and she is very worried. Demonstrations are severely suppressed: people are shot without mercy. “It’s nerve-wracking.”
On the couch at her parents-in-law’s in Eindhoven, she explains that no contact with Iran has been possible for two days. “Uncertainty is driving me crazy. I have called my parents and friends dozens of times, but the line is dead. The situation is really very dangerous, I think about it all the time.”
Large protests are taking place in various places in Iran. People demonstrate against the regime and the poor economic situation. This causes violence and fatalities.
Local authorities are cracking down on demonstrators and arresting people on a large scale. They are arrested and put in prison for a long time.
““I fear for my family and friends.”
The internet is blocked and calling is no longer possible. Ninety million Iranians are cut off from the outside world. “I’m very scared,” says Sara. “Some of my friends are joining the protests, I haven’t received any messages from them for a few days now. I fear for them, the last I heard was that they were going to protest.”
In their app group, which includes about twenty close friends of Sara, it remains quiet now. “Maybe they are no longer alive because people are just getting shot. The uncertainty really drives me crazy.”
She takes a breath and then continues her story. “I know that my friends only go out on the street when it gets dark. That is a little safer. They also wear face masks, so that the authorities can see less clearly who is shouting the slogans. But that guarantees nothing. It is very dangerous there and it makes me sleep very badly.”
“I feel free in Heesch.”
She also no longer spoke to her parents. “I’m worried about my mother and my grandmother. They are both sick. Will they get help, won’t they just be arrested? You can’t rely on anything there. It’s a tense situation.”
Sara’s nine-year-old son is also having a hard time. “He doesn’t understand why he can’t call his grandma and he starts crying. It’s very emotional for us.”
The Eindhoven native fled from Iran to the Netherlands in 1999 and lived in Heesch for a long time. In Brabant she noticed how she had been oppressed all these years. “Growing up in Iran felt very oppressive. You don’t dare to say what you want to say and there is no freedom of expression. You have no free choice.”
“Everyone is worried and scared.”
She says she has never been a religious person, but in Iran you are born a Muslim. “You have to wear a headscarf, prayer was mandatory, fasting too. But it doesn’t suit me. You just don’t have a choice there. You are not free.”
In Heesch she immediately noticed that the atmosphere is very different. “I feel good here. Even as a woman you can live a free life here. In Iran, for example, you must have permission from a man, your father or your partner, to travel freely. Without that permission you cannot go anywhere.”
Sara now follows the news closely all day long. All day long she checks messages on social media, reads newspapers and has contact with Iranians outside Iran. She also talks about it with her husband and in-laws from Eindhoven. They also have an Iranian background.
She works at the Refugee Council at the AZC in Grave. There she also speaks a lot with other Iranians. “Everyone is worried and afraid. I hope that the protests will create a democratic system. And I hope for a government in Iran that respects human rights.”