CNN
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For months, Leila has barely seen daylight.
“I miss being in the open air…I miss being able to walk freely,” she instructed CNN. “I miss my family, my room.”
Her life now is largely confined to 4 partitions, in a home that is not her personal, with individuals who – till a few weeks in the past – she had by no means met.
Leila has been within the crosshairs of Iran’s authorities for years as a consequence of her work as a civil rights activist and grassroots organizer. She was pressured into hiding in September, when a warrant was issued for her arrest following the outbreak of nationwide protests over the dying in custody of Mahsa Amini, a younger lady accused of flouting the nation’s obligatory hijab legal guidelines.
Since then, whereas safety forces stalk her home and household, Leila has taken refuge within the properties of strangers. An nameless network of involved citizens – “ordinary people” related by a shared mission to guard protesters – who quietly assist the motion from afar by providing their properties to activists in want.
It’s not possible to know precisely what number of protesters are being sheltered inside Iran, however CNN has spoken to a number of individuals who, like Leila, have left behind their properties and households to flee what has turn into an more and more violent state crackdown.
Leila says her personal story, and the tales of these bravely hiding her, present that in addition to the extraordinary shows of public anger unfolding on Iran’s streets, “the struggle against the regime continues in different forms.”
“I came here in the middle of the night. It was dark. I don’t even know where I am and my family doesn’t know either,” she mentioned of her present location.
Leila – who has frolicked in some of Iran’s most infamous prisons for her activism prior to now – has lengthy offered a voice for folks the regime would like stay silent, advocating on behalf of political prisoners, and demonstrators dealing with execution.
CNN has verified documents, video, witness testimony and statements from contained in the nation which counsel that no less than 43 folks may face imminent execution in Iran in relation to the present protests.
Using solely a burner telephone and a VPN Leila continues her work in the present day, speaking with protesters in jail, in addition to households with family members on dying row – sharing their tales on social media, in an effort to assist preserve them protected, and alive.
“The comments and messages I receive are very encouraging. People are feeling good to see that I am active now and that I am with them [during this uprising].”
But as time passes, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps seem like doubling down on their hunt for Leila.
“Every day a car with two passengers is constantly stationed out front of my family home…They have repeatedly arrested several of my family members and friends. In their interrogations, they ask, “Where is Leila? Where is she hiding?”
To converse along with her family members, Leila depends on third events to move on notes by way of encrypted messaging companies, utilizing code phrases in case Iran’s safety forces are monitoring their conversations.
“There are listening devices in our house,” she mentioned. “That’s why I never make phone calls to my family anymore.”
For years, Leila’s life has been on pause – interrupted by intervals of imprisonment and extended interrogation – all by the hands of the Islamic Republic’s infamous safety equipment.
“I was tortured psychologically, kept in solitary confinement. They threatened and humiliated me every day.”
Over the final 5 years, Iran has been gripped by waves of demonstrations regarding points spanning from financial mismanagement and corruption to civil rights. One of probably the most seen shows of public anger was in 2019, when rising gasoline costs led to a sweeping rebellion that was rapidly met with deadly drive.
Before the latest protests sparked by Amini’s dying – which many see as probably the most vital menace the regime has confronted so far – Leila was making an attempt to rebuild.
“When I came out of prison life was very difficult for me, but I tried to create small outlets for myself.”
She had arrange a native enterprise, enrolled in a college course, and was working with a therapist to acclimate again to regular life and cope with the trauma introduced on by years of incarceration.
All of that modified inside days of Amini’s dying, when Leila knew she wanted to take an lively function as soon as extra within the protests that had been filling streets throughout the nation with chants of “Women, Life, Freedom.”
Alongside her household, she started becoming a member of marches – sharing the names and tales of protesters being detained on her social media.
Almost instantly, the threats from Iran’s authorities to ship Leila again to jail began once more – after which got here the warrant.
“They wanted to silence me as soon as the uprising happened after Mahsa Amini was murdered…I knew if I wanted to stay and continue my activities, I would have to hide myself from their sight.”
Countless Iranians have been pressured to cross borders with the intention to flee Iran’s safety forces. Leila, although, took a leap of religion and determined to go underground, after a “trusted friend” she’d met by way of a network of activists set her up along with her first protected home.
The drive lasted hours, and there was solely darkness.
“I wore a mask. I laid down in the car so that no one would notice me. I didn’t even get out to go to the toilet or eat.”
She has continued to maneuver round within the weeks and months since. Smuggled by way of the night time, by no means understanding her ultimate vacation spot.
“The first place I was in, the homeowner was very scared, so eventually I left for another location.”
“[Another] person I stayed with was very nice and became supportive of my efforts,” she mentioned.
In order to dwell completely off the grid, Leila is now not choosing up her medicine or checking in with any medical doctors or medical professionals.
She’s additionally stopped accessing her checking account and went so far as exchanging her life financial savings for gold, which somebody sells for her sometimes, when she urgently wants money.
As is the case for therefore many odd Iranians who’re the driving drive of the protests, Leila’s life has “practically stopped.”
“I just breathe and work.”
“I am not afraid of prison. Maybe many people think that we were afraid and so we hid ourselves, but this is not the case.”
“The one thing I fear is that if I get caught and sent back to jail, I will become a faceless name…unable to help the cause and movement, like countless others who were sent to prison and never heard of again.”
For now, Leila says the one factor that retains her going as weeks in hiding flip into months, is the distant hope that someday she may dwell in a free Iran.
“The answer of the Islamic Republic has always been repression and violence…I hope for a miracle and that this situation will end as soon as possible for the benefit of the people.”
“Just like when I was in prison and solitary confinement, I am improving myself with the hope of freedom,” she mentioned.
