Young Iranian, ‘arrested twice without explanation’

(ANSA) – ROME, APRIL 29 – In recent weeks the living conditions of Iranian citizens, especially women, have become increasingly difficult. As Hasti Diyé, 39, an Iranian activist, teacher and dancer, tells ANSA, “since the killing of Mahsa Amini in September 2022 and in particular in the last few months, the government’s pressure and repression have reached their peak”. “There is no road – she explains – without police vans: the troops are deployed against the people”. She herself was recently arrested, “without any explanation”, twice: once in Tehran and once, together with her sister, on the island of Kish, “always known for its beauty, peace and freedom Before I could do anything – he says – the police forced me and my sister, despite resistance and screams, to get into a taxi and asked the driver to take us to an unknown place”. At that point her sister, in a desperate attempt to save herself, “opened the car door in the middle of the road to throw herself out”. “The police – he continues – detained us and started filming”. However, noting that they continued “to shout and resist”, they did not try to stop them when they attempted to escape, although they did not fail to underline that “they had our videos and that next time we will be imprisoned”. If she recovered after the episode, the same cannot be said of her sister. “For about a month – explains Hasti – she has become seriously ill. She is afraid to leave the house, fearing for her two teenage daughters. It was a huge shock for her”. What she and her sister suffered is, however, far from unusual. As Hasti specifies, in fact, “the government, to intimidate people, imposes heavy fines, beats and mistreats women, sentences them to death and kills them. The heaviest blow of recent months – he adds – was the death sentence of the rapper and government critic, Toomaj Salehi”. Among the many arrests, of which it is difficult “to give an exact number because there are too many”, also that of the “sister of Nika Shakrami, one of the victims of the Mahsa revolution”. (HANDLE).