When bullets fired by Iran’s paramilitary force were sprayed at her home during a 2022 protest, Atefeh* realised her country was in a “hostage situation”.
“I couldn’t breathe any more. I was losing my mind and I was traumatised,” the activist says.
“I thought, ‘OK, you are shooting where my parents are as well, and you are threatening me in my own home. So that’s enough. I can’t handle it any more’.”
During the 2022 Women, Life, Freedom protests, the now 37-year-old joined demonstrators on the streets of Tehran. The protests – sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody after being detained for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly – swept through the country.
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