This item was produced in collaboration with SBS Persian
TRANSCRIPT
Marta is a successful business-woman - a migrant from Iran working full time in operations management. This week, the 44-year-old was also busy tending trees at a community garden, planted in memory of protesters killed in her homeland.
“So we choose certain trees, it's olive and pomegranate. They're all certain symbols in the Persian culture. It's sending a very strong message of hope to the community to create awareness.”
Marta has built a new life in Australia and is studying for a Master of Business Administration at Sydney University. It’s her third degree.
She may be a highly educated professional, but still struggles with memories of being detained by morality police in Tehran
“So I still remember the anxiety very vividly, still triggering for me when I remember that.”
While studying engineering at university, Marta was arrested walking down the street with her fiancé.
“So we would've been around 19, 20 years old . We were just dating girlfriend, boyfriend, we were walking out of the university going home together and the morality police came. So with one of those big van scary ones and they actually detained us for being together.”
Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini was also detained by the morality police, allegedly for not wearing her hijab properly.
She died in custody last September sparking a wave of anti-government protests.
Iranian authorities initially said the 22-year-old suffered a heart attack.
Witnesses claimed she was brutally beaten.
Iran’s coroner later linked her death to a pre-existing medical condition.
For Marta, the anniversary of Amini’s death brings back memories of her own ordeal.
“It was quite scary. So they got us to this temporary prison, so both me and my husband and yeah, we spend the night there until late at night and there was a lot of threatening and there was a lot of kind of abusive words, telling us we would go to court, telling us if we are sentenced then we are going to lose our university entitlement, future career, we won't be able to travel because obviously this is going to be a record against us because we've done something really, really, really wrong.”
And the crime the 19-year-old was officially charged with?:
“‘Holding hands, laughing and joking’ And then there was some sub charge, which was the buttons of my top covering was open and that was just, no, that's a lie first of all. It is quite stressful and unbelievable that you will be arrested for literally having a very normal relationship with another man that is not related to you.”
Marta was finally released without a criminal record and migrated to Australia with her husband in 2010.
British-Australian academic and author Kylie Moore-Gilbert was also detained in Tehran’s Evin prison – for 804 days – accused of being a foreign spy.
Ms Moore-Gilbert, who was released in 2020, is closely watching events in Iran.
“We've seen a number of protesters, young men, some of them still teenagers executed or given the death sentence and at risk of imminent execution simply for protesting in the streets. And this has happened in a number of cities across Iran. There is number of people on death row right now who activists are very, very worried about. They could be executed at any moment, and there are fears that in the lead up to the one year anniversary of Masa Amini’s death, that the regime could execute more protestors to warn people off protesting on that anniversary day.”
During anti-government protests in Iran, social media videos showed women cutting their hair or burning their hijab in the streets.
Authorities are proposing tougher punishments for those violating compulsory veiling laws, including lengthy prison sentences, flogging, and travel bans.
Police have already sent women more than one million text warnings to ‘wear headscarves while in a car or have the vehicle impounded.’
Ms Moore-Gilbert says the situation is worrying:
“These draconian new laws are quite terrifying for women. They're putting up C C T V everywhere. They're using text messages to harass women as well. The sort of combination of traditional policing and harassment over morality issues with technology is quite scary. It's really reached the level of baked-in discrimination throughout every part of a woman's experience just living her life in Iran and we need to call it what it is, and that's gender apartheid.”
This month, authorities in Iran are actively supressing dissidents, according to Independent humanitarian organisation Human Rights Watch.
Director Daniela Gavshon explains:
“The Iranian authorities we're seeing really intensifying their crackdown. So, in the last few weeks, we've seen over a dozen activists arrested and repression of dissidents and including lawyers. So these arbitrary arrests are aimed at suppressing this popular discontent that's been emerging with ongoing impunity and rights violations. So we've seen, for example, in this last week, Amini’s family's lawyer has been summoned to court.”
Marta has extended family living in Iran and also fears for their safety. A close relative who went into exile for 10 years, is now working as a journalist and activist in Tehran:
“She's on the constant harassment and fear for what she does. She doesn't stop, but she's still being persecuted.”
It’s one reason Marta spends her weekends planting trees, in memory of protesters who’ve died.
Fellow volunteer Behzad Vafa ((BEH-zahd VAH-Fah)) explains:
“It's a gesture to say that we haven't forgotten about the people who have been killed. This is not just a local initiative, it is worldwide. A lot of Iranians around the world, including many places in Australia, Canberra, Brisbane, Byron Bay, Perth, I believe are taking the same initiative, remembering the sacrifices made and the people who lost their lives in the struggle for a more just society.”
Taking a break from watering – volunteer gardener Amir says many migrants from Iran will rally on September 16, the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death.
However, he says those living in Iran will be more cautious:
“It's very difficult to do anything. Even if you come together as group of three or four, they're going to capture you. It's kind of scene of a war in some streets of Tehran. And people already know that. And the people are smart there - they're looking for alternative way to show their anger.”
Marta is grateful for the freedom to express her views in Australia and is proud to support those calling for change.
“We are driven by their passion as well and we know it will yield results. It's going to grow day by day and we are not going to stop until we reach our goal.”
