Iranian exiles in Turkey scramble to find news from home : NPR

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

A month after the Iranian government brutally suppressed protests, it remains unclear exactly how many people have been killed. The American news agency Human Rights Activists News Agency relies on a network of sources in Iran. Nearly 7,000 people have been identified, but the total death toll could be much higher. More than 51,000 people were arrested in the aftermath – according to the same group – and at least 300 people forced confessions. In neighboring Türkiye, a community of exiled activists is trying to understand what happened and how to help. Durrie Bouscaren has this report.

DURRIE BOUSCAREN, BYLINE: A few weeks ago, Somaye’s sister had a question.

SOMAYE: (speaking Farsi).

BOUSCAREN: His sister is a doctor in Iran and works in a hospital banned from treating protesters. Somaye asked NPR to use only her first name because she fears for her sister’s safety. Her sister was trying to find a way to get her patients out of Iran and into Türkiye without going through metal detectors at the border.

SOMAYE: (Through interpreter) Because some of them have bullets in their bodies – if you want to cross the border, the detectors will show that the metal is inside the body.

BOUSCAREN: The Iranian government was so determined to track down the protesters and the doctors who treated them that his sister took a machine to the hospital so she could give blood transfusions at home.

SOMAYE: (Through interpreter) They check the blood type and transfer the blood between family members. They take it from one person. They give it to another person because they can’t even go to the hospital to remove the bullet.

BOUSCAREN: Now, she says, her sister’s only hope is to keep her patients alive until they can somehow leave the country. But it’s been a month now. And his sister recently told him that a neighbor was suffering from an infection that was getting serious.

SOMAYE: (Through interpreter) Everyone helps each other. People help each other because there is no other help from outside. They have to do it. They don’t have anyone else.

BOUSCAREN: Even as the internet shutdown slowly begins to lift, Iranian activists are struggling to spread information to the rest of the world. I meet activist Saeed Seifi at a cafe popular with Iranians living in Istanbul. It’s full of chintz armchairs and glasses of hot tea.

SAEED SEIFI: So this is our website, Iran Prison Atlas.

BOUSCAREN: These days, Seifi spends his days in front of his laptop, painstakingly compiling a list of names.

SEIFI: These are their cases, and we have a timeline for them as well.

BOUSCAREN: Rights groups say more than 50,000 people have been arrested in a widespread crackdown following January protests. And Seifi, himself a former political prisoner, is part of a group trying to identify them all.

SEIFI: (Through interpreter) Many are injured. They do not have access to medical care and are not allowed to contact their families. We do not have access to them to see their condition.

BOUSCAREN: Seifi says many people have been arrested. They are held in warehouses and private residences across the country, not official prisons. Some, he says, risk being executed.

SEIFI: (Through interpreter) We are recording these human rights violations to hold the people who committed these acts accountable for their actions. We record so they can be held accountable.

BOUSCAREN: This work attracted the attention of the Iranian government. An Iranian activist in Türkiye, who asked that his name not be used, says he has received dozens of death threats in recent weeks.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTIVIST: (Through interpreter) The messages I’m getting – some of them say that no matter where you are in the world, we will find you and kill you.

BOUSCAREN: He says he’s sure the death toll from the protests is much higher than previously reported, because people are under a lot of pressure to stay silent.

SEIFI: (Through interpreter) The level of fear that they’re creating for these families is so high. This is the main reason why it is impossible to obtain accurate statistics. People are too afraid to even give the name of their loved one who was killed.

BOUSCAREN: He says that’s why it’s so important to record each one. For NPR News, I’m Durrie Bouscaren, Istanbul.

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