Behzad, 31, military conscript
Behzad has a master’s degree in the humanities and lives with his partner in a rented flat in central Tehran. He says he didn’t take part in January’s anti-government protests, but only because the call had come from Pahlavi [the exiled son of Iran’s former monarch] and he didn’t want their protest appropriated in his name. He says he knew people shot and killed by the regime.
He is now, against his will, a conscript. In Iran, compulsory military service strips men of basic rights until it is completed: they cannot work formally and nor can they leave the country. He had hoped to serve in an administrative post, but since the start of the war, he says he has been pushed into guard duty, patrols and sentry work at military sites, where he has faced bombardment.
