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Demonstrators in central Tehran
Photo: Middle East Images/AP
“It doesn't feel good to throw a stone. I did it. Not to destroy anything, but to defend our freedom for a little while longer.«
When Parisa Sadeghi speaks, she sometimes rubs her eyes.
As if she had to pause for a moment, get her bearings, or concentrate again because she was tired.
She is sitting in her living room in a big German city, outside the window older men with dachshunds walk by.
Inside, in a nondescript apartment, there is black tea and a plate of biscuits on the table, and a picture of Schopenhauer hangs on the wall.
Less than ten days ago, Sadeghi stood in the middle of a roundabout in Tehran and shouted “Women!
Life!
Freedom!” It is the rallying cry of the current protests.
Since the student Jina Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the Iranian vice squad on September 16, the country has not come to a rest.
The regime suppresses all resistance with violence, even children and young people are now being shot at. According to NGOs, more than 200 people have died so far.
Detailed on-site reports are hard to come by.
Foreign journalists are not allowed into the country, social networks and websites are increasingly censored - and many people are afraid to speak up.
In the past few days, DER SPIEGEL has already published several reports from the country using encryption software, voice messages and on the phone, explaining the anatomy of the uprising in detail.
Parisa Sadeghi can add her own perspective to these stories, which is a special one: As one of the few protesters, she is safe, she can speak freely and calmly about her experiences in Iran over the past few weeks.
Their reports cannot be verified, but they do agree with the descriptions of other interviewees.
However, her name has been changed for her own protection.
»I traveled to Iran at the end of September to visit my family. My parents are there, the whole family lives in Tehran, friends too. When I landed, Jina Amini hadn't been dead a week. On the way into town, anti-regime graffiti was everywhere, and many women walked the streets without a hijab. In the past, the headscarf requirement was checked even in cars with cameras. Anyone caught had to pay a fine. Now many women simply ignore the reminders. I'll be out on the street the first night."
Parisa Sadeghi is 27. She belongs to a generation that grew up protesting against the regime.
It was about rigged elections, basic rights, economic hardship.
Now it's about all of that together, but especially women's rights.
Her boyfriend is also from Iran.
At the beginning of the conversation, he politely asks if he may sit down.
During the next three hours he won't say much, mostly just listening with interest.
He studied engineering, in Germany he joined a feminist group, he says the situation in his home country has politicized him.
»My friend always says: Iranian Shiaism is the best program for turning people into atheists. I think there are few Islamic countries where so many people give up their faith as in Iran. We see how every injustice is justified with religion in everyday life. We see how it is used to lie. How are you supposed to be honestly religious? When I was nine, my father said to me: I don't believe in God anymore. When I was eleven, I was taught that I had to wear the hijab. I felt tear gas for the first time when I was 17. When I was 18, I went abroad to study. I didn't want to run away, just live. Iran is still my country today.«
Sadeghi tells how her mother accompanied her and her younger brother to the protests to protect them.
But also out of anger.
On the first evening they were attacked with rubber bullets, and women in the neighborhood gave them shelter in their homes.
“Even the tear gas has gotten stronger. It sticks up your eyes. Soon after you have to cough very hard. Someone said that inhaling smoke helped with the irritation. So now there are little fires everywhere. We always smoked cigarettes. I don't know if that's really of any use."
They set out at six every evening
The protests in the country are uncontrolled, so far there is no clear structure, no organizers.
People protest on their own.
There are no major events, but many small spontaneous actions across the country.
There are just some unwritten rules: no cell phones.
Don't be alone.
Do not bring any suspicious items.
They set out at six every evening.
The clandestine approach is self-protection, but also a consequence of the past few years.
Sadeghi's friend says that during his studies in Tehran, even the student institute groups were abolished after the last protests.
“You distrust everyone.
Us boys especially.
Even naming environmental problems is considered a disturbance of public order.«
Conversely, the fear is great.
Sadeghi knows the regime's brutality and has experienced it up close almost every day over the past few weeks.
Live shots had already been fired during the first protests, with ammunition she had never seen before.
She forms a circle with her thumb and forefinger to show what the police used to shoot 15-year-old girls in front of her.
It was junk.
Many of the injured are now afraid to call the emergency services, says Sadeghi.
»The regime also uses ambulances and fire engines to abduct members of the opposition. After a rally, my brother removed the bullets from a girl's body because she was afraid that she would not be treated in the hospital but arrested, tortured or raped. My brother is not a doctor. A friend of mine told him how to do it over the phone.«
The protests are chaotic and tiring, says Sadeghi.
In most places you have maybe 20 minutes before you get in front of the police
and militias
have to flee.
The small fires that can be seen in many photos are of course a sign of anger.
But often also a desperate attempt to keep the security forces away with their clubs and sharp weapons.
Just like throwing stones.
Sadeghi says that she too took part.
“When I threw a stone, I wasn't a hero. I was still terrified. Only anger made me do it.«
According to Amnesty International, the authorities received orders early on to proceed with all severity.
Conversely, to date there has not been a single case of violence on the part of the protesters that legitimizes the use of firearms.
»When we went to the demonstrations, my mother asked us to babysit a friend's son. He's only 18. At some point, however, we had to flee and lost him. We didn't hear from him for two hours. We were very afraid, also for our safety, because my mother had given him her car keys. We later learned that the police had arrested him. They started beating him while he was still in the car. Always upside down, ears. He was called a son of a bitch. He was interrogated several times at the police station. The officials were looking for reasons to lock him up longer. When he resisted, he was put in a cell with eleven other boys. They had to stay there overnight. The next morning someone threw them some slices of cheese on the floor. They were treated like dogs. You could see the welts from the cable ties on his hands for a long time later. Eventually he and the others were transferred again and then taken out of town in a white minibus and dumped on the freeway. Before that he had to sign that he would not protest again. They demand letters like this from everyone. He no longer goes to demonstrations. He sprays graffiti alone at night. My mother never picked up the key, I'm too afraid." He sprays graffiti alone at night. My mother never picked up the key, I'm too afraid." He sprays graffiti alone at night. My mother never picked up the key, I'm too afraid."
Sadeghi says she often wonders what she's studying for, what her future holds.
She would like to go back to her homeland, but when
She couldn't work as a psychologist under the mullahs' regime.
There is a system-compliant "Islamic psychology" of its own, which could at best treat privately rich Iranians privately.
For them, that's not an option.
“I'd like to work in trauma care. There are still many children living on the streets or already working. Many are emotionally injured. Nobody helps them. The regime lures them to the Basij militias. In earlier times of war, they were used as human shields or to detonate mines with their bodies. Today, the government recruits thugs from them. I often imagine myself helping these young people to overcome their injuries.«
Even now, the Basij militiamen are deployed to smother the protests.
Rumors are circulating in Tehran that 15-year-olds are once again being recruited off the streets to fill the ranks.
Other security forces are under duress, says Sadeghi.
“The system is fighting for its survival. But I saw some that they are tired. Once a traffic cop punched the air to avoid hitting women.”
For a long time she thought about staying longer, says Sadeghi.
"I cried a lot." Her mother finally encouraged her to continue her studies in Germany.
She says she knows how privileged she is to do so.
Here in Germany, she sees it as her duty to continue to support the protest.
At work in her research project
she is often distracted now, new videos of courageous students and young women are circulating every day.
In the past few days, Parisa Sadeghi has also been demonstrating in Germany. Her boyfriend has spent the night with activists in front of the Greens headquarters.
As the regime's largest trading partner in Europe, Germany must do more, they believe.
But even if so, what chance does the protest have?
“I'm afraid it won't be enough to overthrow the regime now. But the truth is, they don't stand a chance. They lose every day, nobody trusts them with their future anymore. The current protest brings together women, Kurds, the poor and young students. That is new."
Sadeghi keeps in touch with friends and her mother via WhatsApp and voice messages on Telegram.
To protect them, they came up with a trick: Instead of writing about the protests, they write about shopping.
"Were you in town today?" Sadeghi then asks.
And her mother replies where she was.
In the past few days she often went shopping.
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