Rights denied in Iran burst into Sanremo, thanks to the impactful testimony of the consultant and activist Pegah, an Italian of Iranian origins, "born with the stories of the Book of Kings, raised with the verses of the Divine Comedy".
"In Iran - explains Pegah - I could not have presented myself dressed and made up like this, nor talked about human rights on stage, I would have been arrested or perhaps even killed, which is why, like many other girls and boys, I decided that fear scares us more and to give a voice to a generation that grew up under a regime of terror and repression, in a beautiful country, a treasure trove of world heritage".
The word paradise, explains the activist, "comes from a Persian term, pardis, which means protected garden. I ask you - Pegah gets excited - if there is a forced paradise, alas, yes.
How can you call a place where the regime kills even the children. Since September 16, 2022, the day Mahsa Amini was killed by the morality police, the Iranian people have been sacrificing their right to defend their paradise with blood. I thank you on behalf of all young Iranians, because you remind the world that music is a human right".
To explain the drama of Iran to his peers, he is accompanied on stage by Drusilla Foer: together they sing the words of a song that has become the anthem of the revolution, Baraye, written by Shervin Hajipour setting to music the tweets of the boys on the freedoms denied, which just won the Grammy.
"To dance in the street you risk 10 years in prison, it is forbidden to kiss, hold hands, express your femininity, more than 20 million people live below the poverty line, there are children who lose the sun and ask for almsgiving, innocent dogs killed on the street, there are 18,000 intellectuals and political prisoners in prison, and then persecuted Afghan refugees".
The moving prayer-song ends with the key words of the revolution, "woman, life, freedom".
"Freedom", Pegah and Drusilla chant together to applause.
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