Valencia, 8 (EFE).- Women “have to lead the change” in Iran, the Iranian feminist activist Ghazaleh Khorraminiya, who left her country due to threats and has obtained political asylum in Spain, and Maryam (fictitious name for hide their identity), who denounce that there, where “they are nothing” for the Islamist regime, they fear for their lives “constantly”.
This March 8, International Women’s Day, the focus is placed in Valencia on the fact that the progress of rights that feminism has achieved “has been uneven” in some countries, such as the case of Iran, where women do not have rights nor can they make decisions without the authorization of a man.
They appreciate the gestures of solidarity
Both appreciate gestures such as the one that will take place this afternoon before the demonstration in the center of Valencia, a “snip against the patriarchy” where women who want to cut their hair as a form of solidarity, and ensure that this “peaceful gesture” It is a “symbol against oppression” of the Islamic republic.
“Not only do we want to stop wearing the jihab (veil), but we want to dress as we want, study, have a job…”, they affirm in an interview with EFE, in which they recall that the struggle of women in Iran began long ago. 40 years, with the arrival of Khomeini in 1979, but they trust that the current “revolution”, with the motto “Woman, life, freedom”, will change the situation in the country.
Oppression at intolerable levels
“The oppression is at such a high level that we cannot take it anymore, we cannot tolerate it,” says Maryam, who points out that this “revolution”, in which women are taking to the streets of Iran without the veil, is being added more and more men
They also denounce the poisoning of girls in schools in Iran, which they consider “an indirect way of saying: if you continue like this we are going to kill the women”, and in this regard Khorraminiya affirms that the girls now “can no longer breathe, if they do they breathe chemistry.”
“We have to rebuild our country”, they agree to point out that this is the first women’s revolution in the world and, if something is going to happen in Iran, “women have to do it because -they say- we have suffered so much that we have to change it. We have to be the protagonists of change”.
They consider that the only solution to this situation is to “overthrow” the current regime, which they consider an “enemy of the nation” because “they think that everything is justified in the name of religion”, they only act to have more power and for economic and social interests. “people don’t exist”. In addition, they regret that the democratic countries are supporting it because Iran has oil and they need it.
The story of Ghazaleh Khorraminiya
Ghazaleh Khorraminiya, who worked as a teacher in Iran and studied child psychology and graphic and fashion design, had to leave her country after videos demanding women’s freedom of choice went viral on social media. In addition, she wanted to convert to Christianity, something that in Iran “involves the death penalty.”
In 2017, after being arrested and interrogated and, in a single day, leaving the University and her job, she had to decide whether to go to jail if she stayed in her country or flee from it for “being in danger”. She decided the latter and with a false passport she managed to get to Ibiza, where she was arrested for carrying that documentation and where she requested political asylum.
This 39-year-old Iranian, who was granted political asylum in Spain six months ago and now works in the hospitality sector in Valencia, emotionally confesses that she has had to lose all contact with her friends and family in Iran so that they do not are in danger if they are associated with her.
She assures that for the Iranian government her activities are “like a crime” in a country where, she affirms, “you cannot be yourself or express your thoughts or your personality. Men and women are human and we want to have the same rights”.
Maryam’s story
Maryam (fictitious name) is 33 years old and has studied chemical engineering, but since she could not work in Iran -because she could not enter places where there were men- and also had a lower salary, she came to Spain in 2015 to study a master’s degree; She is currently studying for a doctorate at the University of Valencia, where he also works.
“Although I could have stayed in my country and fight, I have to think about my life and what I want for my future, and if they didn’t let me work or appreciate my work for the Iranian people, what was I doing staying there?” he says. to add that, although there are problems with the internet in Iran, he tries to keep in touch with his family by other means to find out how they are.
She explains that emigrating “is not easy” but a process where you need “strength, start from scratch, learn a new language and a culture” but she struggles “to continue studying and have a job” and, in addition, she considers it a “privilege” to be able to living in an apartment with her boyfriend, something that “should be normal”.
And he also confesses that in Valencia “it gives him security” to see a police car on the street, unlike in Iran, where a woman can be arrested for not wearing a veil properly or for being with a man who does not It is her husband, her father or her brother.