For days the brave people of Iran have come to the streets to take a stand against oppression, tyranny and dictatorship
For days the brave people of Iran have come to the streets to take a stand against oppression, tyranny and dictatorship.
Men and women, old and young, from different ethnic groups and religions are shouting for freedom, equality and justice – a loud cry that comes from throats full of suffering and pain, a suffocating suppression of more than 40 years.
Despite the fact that the regime has pointed guns and tear gas at the people and has narrowed the Internet channel, these days we are witnessing more and more people’s courage, dedication and unification with the intention of a complete revolution; a revolution against oppression, which not only aims to destroy women but also to destroy human beings and humanity.
We Christians have not been spared from the brutal repressions since the first day that the Islamic Republic stepped into our country – from serial murders to imprisonment, torture, humiliation, rejection, flogging, exile, forced veiling, deprivation of privacy even in our own homes, deprivation of work and education, confiscation of property and destruction of our churches, which are only part of the regime’s desperate attempt to crush us.
We have suffered but we have not retreated. For our Messianic beliefs and belief in freedom and choice of thought, by saying a firm “no” to compulsory religion, we have proudly accepted the punishment of standing and resisting for years, both ourselves and our families.
We all sympathise. Our pain comes from the wounds caused by the sharp claws of oppression on our bodies; a body that is taller these days but screams for freedom with all its heart.
So we are with each other and we stay and we are not afraid. As we consider ourselves a part of the body of society, and not separate from it, we are still with each other in nationwide protests and for people’s rights inside and outside of Iran, both virtually and on the ground. We continue. And we share in the cost of fighting for Iran’s freedom from captivity and darkness.