An Iranian women's rights activist and survivor of state torture has issued a desperate plea for international solidarity, as a fresh wave of anti-government protests in Iran meets a brutal and deadly crackdown.
A Survivor's Relived Nightmare
Nasrin Parvaz, imprisoned and tortured for eight years in Tehran's Evin prison in the 1980s for defending human rights, says she is reliving her trauma. She describes watching current events with agony, as the regime's violent tactics mirror her own horrific experiences over four decades ago.
The latest uprising was sparked in late December 2025 in an old Tehran bazaar, with protesters demanding an end to poverty, corruption, unemployment, and repression. While the 2022 'Woman, Life, Freedom' movement won significant social freedoms for women, Parvaz notes that fundamental rights are still denied, workers lack basic protections, and students face execution for peaceful dissent.
Brutal Regime Response and Mounting Toll
The government's reaction has been characterised by extreme violence. Human rights organisations report security forces firing into largely peaceful crowds. Distressing imagery has emerged of families searching through hundreds of body bags for missing loved ones.
While the official death toll is obscured, reports suggest more than 2,000 people have been killed, with the true figure believed to be far higher given the scale of demonstrations. By the 17th day of protests, the Human Rights Activists news agency documented 18,434 arrests and 97 forced confessions broadcast on state television—a tactic Parvaz recognises from her own imprisonment.
The regime has also plunged the nation into an internet blackout, aiming to hide its actions and stifle organisation. For Parvaz and others in exile, this has meant being unable to contact family and friends for over a week, left to wait for grainy, smuggled video footage.
A Call for Global Action and Solidarity
Parvaz expresses dismay that global attention has drifted from Iran since 2022. She warns that silence empowers those who torture and kill with impunity. "The international community and the media must keep shining a light on what is happening," she insists.
Her urgent call to action is clear: the world must raise the political cost of executions, demand the release of political prisoners, and insist on an immediate end to torture. She asks for a stand of solidarity with the Iranian people in their struggle for the freedoms many take for granted.
Despite military vehicles now patrolling Tehran's streets day and night, and with only bakeries remaining open, the protesters remain defiant. As Parvaz poignantly notes, they say they have nothing left to lose but their chains. For survivors like her, and for a nation enduring half a century of war against its own people, the fight for dignity and a life without fear continues.
