Recent drone attacks on Iran by Israel have proponents for military force calling on the United States to take similar action. They believe that the best way to “free” Iranians is by blowing up Iran. As an Iranian and former refugee, I assure you that war is not the path to freedom.
In 2009, the Iranian regime brutally attacked the Green Movement, which rose after widespread allegations of voter fraud that delivered Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term in office. Regime forces killed many protesters, detained thousands of ordinary citizens and sentenced them to long prison terms. College students were also expelled from school and detained.
I was involved with the Green Movement, and the regime imprisoned me. I was also banned from studying at university for life. Like many other activists, I hate the regime for what it has done to — and continues to do — to the Iranian people. I fled my country to Turkey in 2011.
