Nasim - Undercover in Iran

Nasim Eshqi is a strong sport climber, trad climber and alpinist from Iran. Nasim is brave, adventurous and passionate, not only in climbing but also in fighting for her rights as a human in a country that does not treat men and women equally. In this blog, Hazel gives Nasim a platform to talk about what is happening in Iran right now and to ask for your support. Sometimes our collective awareness can be more powerful than we think. Thanks for taking the time to read Nasim’s words. You can learn more about Nasim in a podcast we recorded a few years ago here.

For a long time, I have been chasing freedom in every corner of the mountains but we woman in Iran are not free. Now the same women who have been oppressed for 44 years, since this regime began, are in the middle of the street shouting freedom and they want the world to hear them. But their voice is not being heard.

Recently, a 22-year-old "Mahsa Amini" got violently arrested by the morality police, for not wearing her hijab properly. She went into a coma and later died in hospital from brain damage. This is not the first time that this has happened and it will not be the last time. At the moment Iranian people are protesting in the streets. It’s hard for us to be heard because the government has shut down the internet. But maybe also, people don’t want to hear? People think that women in Iran want to cover themselves but that’s the wrong image of us. We love to feel the wind blowing in our hair too.

We love to feel the wind blowing in our hair too.

Showing our hair in Iran has been a crime for 44 years. Before the 1979 Islamic revolution, women were free to dress as they want and choose not to wear a hijab but now women have few freedoms. Recently our president, Ebrahim Raisi, ordered a crackdown on women’s rights and called for stricter enforcement of the dress code. We are sick of it, tensions have been building and now women are in the street fighting for their basic human rights and men stand alongside them, supporting them. But what they are doing is so brave, too brave, we need change and many lives will be lost in this fight. It would help if we felt heard, it would help if we knew that you were on our side.

Mahmoud Sadeghi, a reformist politician tweeted on Friday, “What does the supreme leader, who rightfully denounced US police over the death of George Floyd, say about the Iranian police’s treatment of Mahsa Amini?”

But I ask the same of you. How many of you showed up for the #metoo movement and condemned the death of George Floyd but now turn a blind eye to the injustices in Iran? It’s easy to say “oh it’s in another country, with different rules’. But Iranian women would give anything for the freedoms that you have.

I have climbed mountains in Iran, Europe and Asia. I have learnt from the mountains to stay strong and never give up. With the strength of the mountains behind me, I want to share the voice of the Iranian people who are standing up for this injustice. We are fighting with the power of the mountains against an oppressive regime that wants to erase the rights of women. I want to invite the climbing community to support us, to stand on the side of freedom and Iranian woman.

Be the voice of Iranian women.