In Iran I am called a «Satan», in America an «islamophobe»

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Two years ago, the Iranian regime killed a young woman, Mahsa Amini, for the crime of not covering her hair appropriately. Just two months earlier, the same regime had hired a gangster and sent him to New York, to the front door of my house in Brooklyn. I saw him with a loaded AK-47, planning to kill me.

Of course, this is scary – it’s scary that the Iranian regime can challenge US authority on American soil. But because we, the women of Iran, know the ideology behind the assassination plots, the killing and torturing of women, we understand that their goal is to instill fear inside us. We are trying to overcome that fear.

You might ask why. Because in my country, Iran, freedom of speech is not just about books, and censorship is not just about limiting words, art, films, or articles. It includes erasing the entire society if they dare to challenge Sharia laws. Because the regime hates those who say no to Islamic ideology – especially women.

The Iranian regime has made sure that every single morning, when people want to go out, they have to conform to the lifestyle imposed on us by the regime. That’s why the government wants to get rid of anyone who dares to choose their own lifestyle.

In my country, people are paying a huge price for fighting to gain the same freedom of speech that we take for granted in the West.

«In my country, people are paying a huge price for fighting to gain the same freedom of speech that we take for granted in the West.»

Shot for chanting slogans

I was only 12 years old when the dictator of the Islamic Republic, as we call the Ayatollah in Iran, issued the fatwa against Salman Rushdie. Like millions of children, I was brainwashed to call Salman Rushdie a “Satan”.

Today, many years later, the same regime that targeted Salman Rushdie calls me a “Satan”, too. The regime is now brainwashing a new generation. But this propaganda not only fails to silence us – it actually strengthens us. Today, Iran is full of “Satans”. And they are paying a huge price for fighting against the brutal regime.

Women who joined the uprising in Iran were intentionally blinded. They lost their eyesight because they were shot by the morality police and security forces for the crime of chanting the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom.”

But then, these brave women were joined by their brothers. For years, the Iranian regime used men against women, telling brothers and fathers that they owned their sisters, and if their sisters did not follow Sharia laws, they could kill them in the name of honor. But now, men have joined their sisters to support them in their protest. The regime reacted by blinding them, too. These men and women are living proof of the regime’s brutality, which targets not only its own people who fight for freedom of speech but also those who dare to challenge Islamic ideology beyond its borders, like Salman Rushdie.

Don’t fear darkness

Censorship and the attack on freedom of speech isn’t just something confined to Iran. We are cancelled in the West, too. There are many organizations and people in the West who are scared of sharing their platform with those who are targeted by authoritarian regimes. We must be united and show our solidarity with those who are risking their lives to protect freedom of speech.

I come from a very tiny village. I grew up in a very traditional and poor family. We didn’t have running water or electricity in our house. I remember that, as a little girl, I was really scared of the dark. During the night, we had to use the outhouse because we didn’t have an indoor bathroom. My mom would tell me: “Darkness is like a monster: it will swallow you if you’re scared of it. But if you instead open your eyes as wide as you can and stare into the darkness, it will disappear.” So, I would go to the outhouse, opening my eyes as wide as I could. It worked!

Growing up in the Middle East, especially as a woman, I faced a lot of darkness. But I learned to fight back instead of getting scared. I was expelled from high school in Iran for the crime of asking questions. That was a dark time in my life because I hadn’t done anything wrong. I simply challenged the existence of God, like teenagers do everywhere. But in my country, this can cost you your life.

After being expelled from high school, I decided to become a parliamentary journalist. I asked politicians a lot of questions – and again, I got myself into trouble. They were very simple questions, like: “Why are women banned from singing?” I once asked the former president if he had ever heard a woman sing. He said no. He then tried to explain the fatwa that bans women from singing, saying that a woman’s voice could get men excited and aroused. I told him: “Okay, let me try…”

We are laughing at the absurdity of this fatwa, but it is the reality in Iran. Women’s voices are being erased. Zara Esmaeili, a young woman, is in prison for the crime of singing a song of Lady Gaga.

Heartbreaking hypocrisy

Because of my habit of asking questions, I was eventually kicked out of my homeland. But that didn’t silence me. In 2014, I decided to use social media to create a campaign against compulsory veiling. For many of you, it might seem like a small piece of cloth, but for millions of women in Iran and Afghanistan, when it’s forced, it’s the main pillar of a religious dictatorship. It’s the most visible symbol of oppression.

I received a lot of backlash. The Iranian regime arrested 29 women in one day. But their mothers reacted by joining the protest, saying: “You arrested our daughters – now we will be their voice.” That gave me a lesson that I should not give up my fight.

Then, the regime went after my family members. My sister was forced to denounce me publicly on TV. They put my brother in prison for the crime of being my brother. They started to criminalize sending videos to me, saying that anyone who did so could face up to 10 years in prison. But this didn’t stop women. Why? Because it’s not about me; it’s about millions of women who have agency.

«My sister was forced to denounce me publicly on TV. They put
my brother in prison for the crime of being my brother.»

The censorship that I faced didn’t stay in Iran. Here in the US, when I was talking about the campaign that Iranian women launched against Sharia laws, well-known female politicians, analysts, activists, leaders, and feminists were telling me: “Shhh! You’re causing Islamophobia.”

I replied: “Wait a minute. Talking about the brutality of the regime, that lashes people, executes people for challenging Islamic ideology, rapes women in prison… you think that sharing this story is causing Islamophobia?!” Phobia is an irrational fear. My fear – and the fear of millions of Iranian women – is rational. Of course we are scared of the Taliban. Of course we are scared of the Islamic Republic.

It didn’t stop there. During the Trump administration, I was told by many journalists that talking about the compulsory hijab campaign, challenging the Islamic Republic, might put you into Trump’s narrative. “You might jeopardize the nuclear talks,” they said. I thought: Wow. So, you want me to keep quiet because the Trump administration might take advantage of that?

To be honest, I don’t care who is in power in America – Trump, Biden, or Obama. What I care about is that I don’t want the Taliban and the Iranian regime, who rape women, expand their ideology everywhere, and target dissidents beyond their own borders with transnational repression, to be in power.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner, Narges Mohammadi, is in prison for challenging the Islamic Republic, yet the West was lecturing us that hijab is part of the culture of Muslim women. Calling a barbaric law part of Iranian culture is an insult to a nation.

I am not alone in being angry about this. This is the anger of millions of girls and women in Afghanistan and Iran who are being abandoned. The hypocrisy and double standards behind this break my heart.

I believe that when it comes to defending women who face rape, we should all stand together. When it comes to defending freedom of speech, we should all stand together. I personally condemned the Muslim ban. I condemned the burkini ban. Those who hesitate to condemn the “women ban,” as I call it, should question themselves. Why do the same female politicians who condemned the Muslim ban in America go to Iran and wear hijabs? Why do they bow to the Taliban in Afghanistan?

«Why do the same female politicians who condemned the Muslim ban in America go to Iran and wear hijabs?»

Freedom of speech, freedom of expression is at risk, even on Western soil. A lot of times, when I go to different platforms and different stages, I get scared. If I talk about this, maybe people will lose hope and say, “Oh, this is difficult.” Believe me, it’s not difficult to be united when it comes to protecting freedom of speech.

United to protect your fellow citizens

When I moved to America, I asked my husband: “Do you know your neighbors?” He replied: “What’s the point of knowing them? Why should I?” I was shocked. I come from a village. When we need tomatoes, or eggs, we go to our neighbors. He said: “This is not going to work here.”

But then I went to my neighbors and realized that they are amazing people. One of them had a sign supporting Trump; the other, Bernie Sanders. I knocked on their door, and I said to each of them: “I want to have a glass of wine with you.” I realized this is how I can make my neighbors feel like family, like the members I was forced to leave behind.

My neighbors didn’t know who I was, but when a guy got arrested in front of my house, when a kidnapping plot was stopped by the FBI, when my brother got arrested by the regime, and it was all over the media, it was my neighbors, every single one of them, knocking on my door, offering me a place to hide, offering me wine, food, love, family.

That’s the beauty of America. When it comes to national security, when it comes to the safety of their fellow citizens, they are all united, no matter whether they support Trump or Bernie Sanders.

I was going on Fox News and CNN, talking about how women are facing rape in my country. People were praising me, giving me love, and I was very appreciative of the amount of love I received from Americans. But one day, an American citizen stopped me and said: “We love you, we support you, but can you stop going to Fox News? They’re miserable.” One block later, another one stopped me and said: “We are with you, but please, don’t go to CNN. They’re just using you.”

I replied: “Having Fox News and CNN is the beauty of America. If you’re coming from a country like Iran, North Korea, or Russia, where you have only one state-controlled television, you only see people repeating the government’s narrative. I know some of you hate Fox News or CNN, but that is called freedom of speech. What do you want? To cancel Fox News and just listen to CNN, or cancel CNN and just listen to Fox News? That’s how it’s like in the Islamic Republic.”

Islamic ideology will infect the world

The dictators from Russia to China, to Venezuela, to South Africa, to Iran, and their proxies are united. If we don’t unite to fight against these dictators, the alliance between authoritarian regimes will get stronger. They will end all of us. They will end democracy; they will end freedom of speech.

When I came to America, I learned that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. But believe me, what happens in the Middle East is not going to stay in the Middle East. The Islamic ideology is deadlier than the coronavirus, and it will infect the rest of the world.

Join us, be with us, and support us, because we cannot do this on our own.

«When I came to America, I learned that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. But believe me, what happens in the Middle East is not going to stay in the Middle East.»

This essay is based on a speech held at the Global Free Speech Summit 2024 at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.