Worried calls to family member Iranians in Bonn feel the pain of their relatives

Bonn · Following the death of a 22-year-old woman who died in custody after being detained by the Iranian regime’s morality police, protestors took to the streets in Duesseldorf. Also in Bonn, Iranian residents feel for their relatives back in their homeland.

 Many Iranians protest in Düsseldorf against the situation in their home country.

Many Iranians protest in Düsseldorf against the situation in their home country.

Foto: privat

Kurosch Irani from Bonn took part in a rally for his home country Iran in Duesseldorf last Saturday. There have been numerous riots in Iran following the death of a 22-year-old woman - and these are causing great concern for the 30-year-old from Bad Godesberg. "My sister lives in Tehran, so directly in the center of the uprising." Many demonstration marches pass along her street, which causes her a lot of psychological stress. "When I talked to her by video call the week before last, she showed me how the regime troops in plainclothes marched along in front of her house. Shortly after that, the internet was shut down.”

Irani describes the morality police as extremely brutal and ruthless. "They are not afraid to cut off two fingers of a journalist during a running interview." Public torture, the use of stun guns, and shootings of civilians are routine, he said. People in his homeland repeatedly witness or even fall victim to brutal police tactics, which sometimes involve using paintball guns to mark fleeing protesters.

Some families are brave enough to offer demonstrators a place to hide in their homes. A risky act of assistance, Irani says. "Because the members of the Revolutionary Guard gain arbitrary access to all homes whenever they want. Anyone who resists is threatened, arrested or shot.”

Why would people put themselves at such risk for strangers? “When you have smelled blood on the street or a person was shot in front of you, you no longer think rationally, but act instinctively and feel an obligation to help." The biggest problem, he said, is that one's family can be threatened with torture if citizens defy the regime. For that reason, many families remain silent and let the dictatorship prevail.

Despite all the suffering in his homeland, Irani is grateful to be heard. "In Iran, an interview like this could not be published," he says. "Only what suits the government is reported.”

Minoush Pourmonjezi is also appalled by the conditions in Iran. The 52-year-old follows various news channels every day, partly because her family lives there. She says Iranian authorities are mobilizing all forces to violently suppress the nationwide protests. "They say that the regime's repressive forces are shooting at civilians, both with practice and war bullets."

The people are unarmed, she said, and facing a regime that can do whatever it wants arbitrarily with everyone in the country. Life in the Islamic dictatorship is particularly painful for women: "The police have never protected us, but have always oppressed us. Many are mistreated or raped.”

As for most people from Pourmonjezi's homeland, the idea of freedom and democracy in Iran remains a pipe dream. When she came to Germany in 2015, gender equality as it was presented to her in Germany was not yet to be taken for granted by her. She very much appreciates the basic rights and respect here. In Bonn, she has so far only met people who respect her and make her feel safe. However, she would like to see more support from Europe for her homeland. "Human rights are violated there every day, and not just since the death of Mahsa Amini," laments the mother of two.

Mehrdad Bozorg moved to Bonn seven years ago after leaving his home city of Tehran to study. Even then, he says, the mood in Iran was tense. "I remember the first time the so-called morality police were introduced, which was in the spring of 2007," the 36-year-old says. "When I saw a girl being kicked and arrested in Tehran for not wearing a head covering, it was terrible for me - they stepped on her knee and arrested her then and there," Bozorg recalls. "I was shocked and angry, especially because I had done nothing (against it) and it happened right in front of me. I can't erase that scene from my memory.”

Defense of the Government in Iran

The Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution (Sepah-Pasdaran-Jomhuri Islami), along with the regular army (Artesh), forms the Armed Forces of Iran. The goal of this organization, which also includes the so-called Morality Police, is to defend the Iranian government. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard is economically active in almost all fields and, as a paramilitary institution, is the country's largest contractor. Since 2007, it has become the official armed force in Tehran and has been given a corresponding budget.

Orig. text: Abir Kassis

Translation: ck

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