Dear sisters,
as we write to you our hand trembles. We are afraid as we have never been before. However, there is a glimmer of hope for change and pride in our people who are generating the change. Iran will never revert to what it was before.
We are convinced that you know that we are experiencing a stormy time, and despite our great fear, we want to share the on goings with you. Even the authorities are finding it difficult to conceal from the world what is going on here. However, we have no doubt that you are not seeing the complete picture.
The prevailing rumor is that the reform leaders are being targeted by the conservatives and the IRGC, and that some of them suffered at the harsh hand of the authorities. It is said that some were placed under house arrest, had their property confiscated and their close associates were interrogated under duress. Our authorities know how to conceal such actions well, even when a person is seen in public. Even Houmeini's granddaughter, Zahra Eshraqi was arrested. In Tehran, Hizballah forces on motorbikes, generally carrying truncheons and chains, planned to confront Musavi's supporters and to stop them from demonstrating. However, a number of Musavi's supporters were of such stature that the Hizballah men did not have the courage to approach them.
On June 17, Musavi's supporters filled many kilometers of Valiaser Street. Military forces and security men in civil clothes also planned to confront them, but eventually refrained from doing so because of the presence of masses.
Our colleagues told us that Faeze Hashemi was standing opposite the television building on Valiaser Street, and spoke, without a microphone, about the rigged election and called for support for Musavi.
On Tuesday, 16 June, demonstrations and unrest were reported in 15 other cities. There were serious demonstrations with causalities in Tabriz, Esfahan and Shiraz. There were reports that the television building in Tabriz was attacked and that part of it was set on fire.
You already know about the mass demonstrations in Tehran, in which people have lost their lives, but we do not know whether you received information about the violent manner in which the authorities chose to suppress the protests: undercover security men, in plain clothes, infiltrated into the rows of peaceful marchers and attacked them using fire arms and cold arms, including truncheons, axes, daggers, etc. In some places security personnel were stationed on balconies and sprayed the marchers with automatic fire.
The security mechanisms raided universities in Tehran and other big cities. They broke into dormitories and attacked students indiscriminately. People were injured and even killed in this violent activity.
There is chaos at the Tehran University campus. Basij forces have raided it and are sowing destruction and ruin everywhere. Although the students who, as always are at the front protesting against the injustice caused to the entire Iranian public are making efforts to protest peacefully, the authorities are using extreme violence against them.
The results are devastating - serious damage has been caused to both people and property. As it appears from here, the authorities are concealing the true extent of the casualties. We saw with our own eyes horrifying events that are hard to describe in words: bleeding people dragged forcefully to patrol vehicles, young female students whose head covers were torn off their heads in the clashes dragged by the hair to patrol cars and other dreadful sights. But worst of all- we saw students thrown out of dormitory windows!!! We do not know what happened to them and we, of course, fear for their lives.
Many of our friends were abducted by Basij men and we do not know where they are being held. There is chaos and great fear in the dormitories. In many places rooms were torched and the campus is literally burning. Dozens of parents are walking around the campus desperately searching for their missing sons and daughters and their world is collapsing. Parents who arrive at the campus are roughly beaten and turned away by IRGC members, men and women dressed in black, like crows swooping down on corpses, carrying truncheons and knives.
Of course, we too are not aware of the entire scope of the events - due to censorship by the authorities and official media outlets, and because all alternative information outlets such as unofficial websites, blogs, Twitter and Skype are blocked. We cannot receive real information and rely on reports from our friends in Tehran and other cities and from what we see with our own eyes - and we see hundreds of casualties. We deeply hope that we will find a way to send you this message.
We warned against the increased oppression, we repeatedly cautioned and begged - do not leave us on our own. Exert pressure on the representatives of the Iranian regime who visit you and those accredited in your countries. Use all your influential channels so that your leadership and public will not remain indifferent to our suffering.
Nevertheless, amidst the killing there is a glimmer of hope for change. The citizens who have been subdued, pressured and oppressed for 30 years have reached the limit of their endurance. They have filled the streets and shown the entire world what they really think about their regime - a regime that has lost all its legitimacy both domestically and internationally. The people do not want it anymore. Even if this is a passing episode, we will remember it as a bright page in the Iranian people's history written with its blood.
Please, do not leave us alone - when the scope of the events is revealed the world will be astounded and will repent its silence. Do not let the representatives of the oppressive regime continue living peacefully while we are living in hell. Make their lives insufferable, let them have a taste of at least some of what they are making us go through.
The more intense the wave of protest, the better our chances of succeeding, despite the terrible, bloody price we are paying.
We cry out for your help, anything will assist - any approach to your foreign ministry and to international organizations to exert pressure on the regime to put an end to the bloodshed will help stop the serious violence. We must put an end to the violence, come what may, otherwise we do not know how many more victims will pay with their lives.
In addition, we call on you to do everything you can to warn all the foreigners staying in Iran to leave it as soon as possible in order to save their lives The country is burning and is very dangerous even for people who are not taking an active part in the struggle.
Please, do not abandon us.
We trust you,
feminist students in Iran
