It was four years ago. Iranian women climbed on electrical transformers in the aptly named “Revolution Street” in Tehran, the Iranian capital. “We started refusing to wear the hijab. It was a movement of disobedience“, says one of these demonstrators who waved their veil at the end of a stick. Shaparak, first name which means butterfly in Persian, was arrested in February 2018, and transferred to the detention center of Vozara, where, in September 2022, Mahsa Amini, the face of the revolt of part of the Iranian population, was questioned by the morality police.
“When they arrest women in Tehran, they bring them to this building. I stayed there for one night and two daysrecount Shaparak Shajarizadeh. When I heard this story, I knew what had happened to Mahsa… I was beaten badly in the same detention center, in the same building.” released on bail, Shaparak is sentenced to two months in prison, before being arrested again in May 2018, but this time with her nine-year-old son. It was fear that decided her to leave Iran for good.
From Toronto, where she now lives, the 47-year-old activist doesn’t go a day without watching videos of her Iranian sisters challenging the mullahs’ regime. “I’m just proud of them. I’m so proud of them. I’m in awe of their bravery. They’re so fearless. And I’d love to be there, burn my headscarf with them and scream’Down with the dictator‘ by their side.”
From her place of exile, she sends a message to this rising Iranian youth: “I started protesting because I thought I should have a voice. So always have a voice and be your own voice!” claims Shaparak, who faces 20 years in prison, two of which are closed, if she returns to Iran. From her story, she drew a book: Freedom is not a price.
Iran: the testimony of Shaparak Shajarizadeh at the microphone of Valérie Crova
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