Iranian students at St Andrews University have told how they cannot go home over fears of persecution as anti-regime protests continue across the country.
Their comments came as the university hosted a rally and vigil to show solidarity with women, students and protesters facing violence and oppression in Iran.
The event, which kicked off in the Fife town on Thursday evening, heard from Iranian students and staff, including Professor Ali Ansari of the Iranian Studies Institute and Dr Saeed Talajoy of the School of Modern Languages.
Protests for liberty, justice, and human rights have spread across the country following the death on September 16 of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Zhina Mahsa Amini.
She was beaten and killed in custody after being arrested under ‘morality laws’ that enforce veiling for women.
Student – ‘they easily kill people’
PhD student Ali Shapouran told The Courier he could be arrested if he returns to his homeland – which he was forced to leave last year after an altercation with the Islamic republic.
The 44-year-old, who is researching Middle Eastern history at St Andrews University, helped organise the rally.
He says he hopes the event will help raise awareness of what is happening to people – his friends – in Iran.
He said: “Most of my friends are still in Iran. I lived there until 2021.
“Lots of them are actively engaged in the protests.
“A couple of them have been prosecuted. One of them at least is arrested right now and we don’t know where.
“We just know that somebody took him. That is how it goes in Iran – you just disappear and who knows when or where you will surface again – dead or alive.
“They easily kill people. They kill the most outspoken.
“It is our responsibility to make other people know about it and make sure it will not happen again.”
Teacher’s contract was cancelled
Ali, who taught Persian history at a university in Iran, says he was pressured to leave his country due to various run-ins with the authorities over his reluctance to follow austere rules.
He said: “I was under massive pressure in Iran.
“After Covid, my literature classes went online and they were recorded.
“[The authorities] monitored them and they came to me and asked me to begin my classes with the word of the God.
“I didn’t want to do that so they cancelled my contract and my income was halved. There was other things like this.
“Last year one of my acquaintances told me that they don’t want me back because if I go back to my country they will arrest me.”
Although it is not safe for Ali to return home now – he is hopeful it will be possible one day.
He said: “I have a dream to go back to a free, peaceful and prosperous country.
“This is what all we Iranians want – we have been wanting it for more than a century.
“We have fought and we will keep fighting until we win.
“Speaking to you now, I know I will be in more danger if I go back under Islamic regime, but I don’t care.”
Unable to see family for a decade
Pasha Tehrani, a fourth-year management student at St Andrews University, hosted the vigil on Thursday evening.
Born and raised in the UK to Iranian parents, he explains how he has been unable to visit his family in Iran for almost a decade due to fears over his safety.
As a dual national – and a man – he could be forced to join the military if he entered the country.
He also references the case of British-Iranian dual citizen, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was sentenced to five years in prison for allegedly plotting to overthrow the Iranian government in 2016.
Pasha said: “That is because she was a dual citizen – it makes it much more dangerous for us to go back.”
Protest after ’43 years of oppression’
Pasha, 22, says his parents are proud of him for taking part in the rally.
He said: “My dad said that he wanted me to take part in this, because him and his family have lived through 43 years of oppression.
“We are now in a position where we need every community in the world to understand why these protests are happening – why now, and why it is so significant.
“Because if you go online and read the news, there is very little information out there.”
It is estimated more than 200 members of the Iranian community in Fife and Dundee, as well as local school pupils and residents, took part in the rally and vigil on Thursday.
Pasha added: “[The rally] is not a ‘we want you to feel sad for us’ event.
“It is to show that we stand with the people of Iran and to show that we don’t support the violence against peaceful protests.
“You should always always have the right to peacefully protest against something that is impacting your life.”
Conversation