Diasporas' quests for freedom | Reagan Yip

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Photo Essay

DIASPORAS' QUESTS FOR FREEDOM

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Elika's "Living Hell"

Elika never anticipated being an activist.

Born and raised in an ordinary family in Iran's capital Tehran, her early life mirrored that of her Iranian peers.

She relished painting, loved playing the piano and experienced "scary" encounters with Iran's infamous morality police, the culprits of recent protests after a woman arrested for improperly wearing a hijab died in their custody.

With a rueful grin, Elika recalls:

"We went out ready to be told off by these thugs, if not worse, for things like putting the headscarf a bit less on the head.

"For house parties, you needed to bribe local police and asked them to patrol the area to prevent morality police from coming."

At the age of 16, she and her family moved to the UK.

But her affection for the motherland remained.

She flew back every summer and even planned to film a vlog of her travelling from the country's north to south, showcasing its beauty.

Little did she know the country she cherished would soon shatter her family and life.

Anoosheh boarded the flight from Heathrow to look after Elika's ailing nan.

Disaster silently struck.

Ominous signs surfaced, with messages undeliverable for days, but when it emerged he was arrested she was in utter disbelief.

She says: "We (family members) were just staring at each other at my mum's place.

"We had no idea what to do."

Left in limbo due to him being detained incommunicado, months of speculation ensued.

Only almost one year later did they report the confiscation of his passport by Iranian authorities to the Foreign Office.

Officials then advised against publicising the case for a quick solution - a piece of advice her family initially complied with.

She sighs: "For a long time we had a lot of faith that they were trying.

"In retrospect, it is quite naive."

Anoosheh's arrest, along with that of another British-Iranian dual citizen, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, was believed to be part of a dispute between two countries over a £400 million unpaid debt.

Iran has a history of detaining foreign and dual nationals for geopolitical reasons, with 66 such cases documented since 2010.

The stagnation lasted for two years.

Elika's "Living Hell"

In August 2019, Iranian media outlets reported that Anoosheh was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment on charges of spying for Israel and acquiring illegitimate wealth, which he denies.

Frustrated with the Foreign Office's inaction, the family, who woke up to calls from UK journalists, decided to defy officials' advice despite fears of him facing repercussions.

She turned into the public face of the family's campaign, organising protests and petitions.

They were, however, disappointed to find media coverage of their campaign 'fizzled out', when compared with Richard's campaign, the husband of Nazanin, to release her.

She says: "We frequently collaborated with Richard but were almost invisible in the reportage.

"My dad's gender, age, race and non-British-looking face are things that people don't relate to.

"They would just view him as a refugee from the Middle East, and he went back on his own risks."

“A journalist once told me that his arrest was not sexy news and would not get the clicks".

But the media's apathy, albeit being the "biggest challenge", was far from her only obstacle.

There was, she argues, apparent indifference from the government, exemplified by its election tactics of "putting hatred on immigrants or other races" and the Prime Minister's unwillingness to meet the family.

In a report published last month, MPs rebuked that the Foreign Office missed opportunities to secure an early release for Anoosheh and Nazanin, and that its "hurtful" strategy inflicted "significant suffering".

Officials did not provide consular access and failed to secure his furlough in 2020 when 85,000 Iranian prisoners were released due to COVID-19.

The uncertainty engendered by having three foreign ministers in five years also meant "starting from scratch every time to adapt to his/her way of thinking".

Asked what the most disappointing moment was, she says: "We felt very frustrated at a meeting with (then Foreign Secretary) Liz Truss.

"It was shambolic and poorly organised - she abandoned us around 15 minutes into it."

"She decided against granting diplomatic protection to my dad but was unable to give us a reason, and left their lawyers to break us the news."

Her mother, she remembers, was so frustrated that she "dashed out of the room for air".

The Foreign Office has not responded to a request for comment.

Faced with these difficulties at home, and his father's torment, despair permeated the family.

Anoosheh was held in solitary confinement for over 100 days and in unsanitary conditions, with the treatment so intolerable that he attempted suicide thrice.

An "entertaining" dad who would give his kids "the best birthday parties", he was once very buoyant.

She says hearing these attempts was the family's "rock bottom", adding: "I was angry with him for a while because we were trying here.

"It was like a living hell because we were on our own.

"There were a lot of moments we wanted to give up though, especially when were self-employed and campaigning came with huge emotional strain and financial strain."

In March 2022, following the UK's payment of the debt, and with help from established campaign groups like Amnesty, Anoosheh and Nazanin were eventually released to be reunited with their families.

But as memory of the trauma persists, so is her activism.

As Iranian authorities suppress recent protests against draconian Islamic laws, with over seven people hanged, Elika has been an outspoken advocate for those suppressed.

She cut her hair on Lorraine, a gesture of rebellion in Iranian culture, and was featured in the magazine Vogue to highlight the struggles of Iranians.

Reflecting on her childhood and campaign, she says: "To stand up against a regime with no regard for human life is incredible."

"The challenges of getting my dad 'relevant' in the press are now reflecting on a major scale with the Iranian people.

"Some Western media often misrepresents the movement as solely driven by economic grievances."

Recognising the growing desperation within the diaspora, she believes the Iranian diaspora must devise a long-term plan to sustain their struggles.

She adds: "There is so much you can do on the streets and in protests, but people get bored when they see it all the time.

"We need to look at the problem realistically and do some research to find out why we are being ignored."

This is an issue also faced by other diaspora activists.

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© 2023 By Reagan Yip

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