PARIS. “What’s the use of reporting when you feel like they don’t give a damn?” Thus, after having published several books in which he criticized the Tehran regime, Fariba Hachtroudi decided to take action. From Paris, where she has lived since she was 12, the Iranian writer has launched an online fundraiser to support young people who are protesting against the Islamic Republic through the Mohsen-Hachtroudi association, which takes her name her father, a famous mathematician. The goal is to raise money to pay legal fees and bail to as many young people as possible who are arrested by local authorities. A ten-year commitment, that of Hachtroudi, who with her association founded in the mid-nineties has helped many refugees of her fellow countrymen.
Why is it important to financially support the protest?
To stifle the resistance, in addition to arresting and killing, the regime brings the families of the young people who are imprisoned to their financial knees. The deposits required can reach up to 100,000 euros. These are astronomical numbers. Sometimes the parents of the killed boys can’t even afford the funeral costs.
And how does it intend to proceed?
We will operate in the light of day. Firstly because it is dangerous to do otherwise and then it would be counterproductive. The big problem is sending the money that will be collected, because Iran is under an embargo so the banks will not be able to receive our money. But we have planned to send them to lawyers who are on site and are part of our network of contacts.
In 2016 she went to her native country with the aim of staying there. How did things go?
I was summoned all the time by the secret services. They made me understand that I had to be careful, that I was being watched. In 2011 my book “Ali Khamenei or the tears of God” was released, where I documented what the population thinks of the ayatollah, explaining that people no longer wanted him. I anticipated what is happening now. However, the book did not have the desired success, and perhaps this was my luck.
You are in continuous contact with the young protesters. What is their mood right now?
Everyone tells me that the protest will not stop. At most it will take other forms, with different methods. Demonstrations, for example, have decreased because children gather less. They are trying to suppress the university movement, but despite their ferocity they cannot stop it.
And do they also tell you about the violence they suffered?
We know well what happens in prisons, I’ve had testimonies about it. Some of them have told me about the threats they have suffered, which are often even worse than the rapes. Prisoners are stripped naked, insulted and threatened. Maybe they don’t go as far as sexual assault but it’s a permanent state of abuse. Often young people don’t even tell their parents about the violent interrogations they are subjected to so as not to make them worry. They told me of overcrowded prisons in Tehran where the boys are kept like sardines, with a nauseating smell. I dare not imagine what happens in the most remote provinces, where there is no control, such as Iranian Balochistan or Kurdistan.