Satellitten: At vokse op under Irans islamiske regime – en ung iraners historie

Mens du læser dette, kredser vores SEINellitter rundt i verden. De er unge iagttagere, der sender deres perspektiver hjem til redaktionen fra andre lande og virkeligheder. Satellitten er et format, hvor vi giver mikrofonen til dem, der ser verden fra en anden vinkel. Det er ikke breaking news, eller diplomatiske analyser, men hverdagsglimt og fortællinger fra steder, du ellers ikke ville nå. 

Det er svært at vide præcist, hvad der foregår i Iran. For d. 8 januar 2026 slukkede landets leder, Ali Khamenei, for internettet. Det betyder, at iranere hverkan kan ringe eller sende sms til hinanden eller til omverdenen. 

Men en stemme har alligevel fundet vej.

Iran har siden slutningen af december oplevet de største protester i årtier. Hvad der begyndte som økonomiske demonstrationer, udviklede sig hurtigt til opstand mod det præstestyre, der siden den islamiske revolution i 1979 har haft den øverste magt i landet. 

Denne satellit er skrevet af en ung iraner, der forlod landet som 18-årg. Han ønsker at være anonym, da han stadig har familie i Iran, men redaktionen er bekendt med hans navn. Vi skifter over til engelsk nu, hans historie starter nemlig her.

I was born and raised in Iran until I turned 18. My life was filled with strict rules, money troubles, constant brainwashing, and harsh crackdowns. This is my story of surviving and pushing back against a system that controls every part of life, showing what many people in Iran go through every day. I’ll start from the beginning, with my parents.

The system that shaped my family

My story starts with my parents’ marriage, which was not about love but forced by strict Islamic rules and family pressure. In many strict Muslim families, girls must marry young, and my grandmother – who was very religious – made my mom marry at 17.

In this culture, women stay home, have children, and follow their husbands, with almost no chance og working or taking part in society. 

If a girl does not marry, people think something is wrong: for example, did she have sex before marriage? Or is she unable to have babies? Families worry no one will want her and push girls to marry early. My mom had no choice and entered a marriage without love. 

They got divorced, but in Iran under Islamic law, fathers usually get the children after divorce, so even though I wanted to live with my mom, the court gave me to my dad and his new wife. This rule keeps men in control, and my mom was now alone, having only finished 10th grade because of the early marriage and with no job skills. She entered a world run by men, where women earn half as much for the same work.

She fought in court for years to get me back, but a judge asked her to sleep with him to win, and when she said no and sued him, she went to jail for a month instead, charged with making a false claim. But she did not give up so finally, I moved in with her, though life became even harder.

Living with my mom felt better emotionally, but money was very tight since her job paid little and it was not enough for both of us. We lived in poverty because of Iran’s high inflation from the corrupt government, where prices rose fast but wages stayed low. This led to days when we only ate bread and tomatoes to make it to the end of the month.

These years were tough as we faced hunger and worry every day, with the government’s poor choices hurting people like us, by spending money on the military instead of helping citizens. But my mom kept going, working hard against rules that held women back.

Classrooms of control

School in Iran was more about pushing government ideas than real learning. Every day started with chants like “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” and if you did not join in, you could get suspended. 

We had religion classes three times a week that tried to make us radical Muslims and stopped us from thinking on our own. A point system gave free snacks, food, and money for joining Quran classes, especially tempting poor kids.

The IRGC (the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – a branch of the Iranian army, ensuring islamic rules), now named a terrorist group by the EU, had people in every school offering good deals to join them. 

In exchange you had to help kill protesters or spread their messages. Many kids joined because of poverty, since the IRGC covered basic needs if you worked for them.

My first big protest

When I was 14, I saw my first big protest where people stood up against high prices, unfair treatment, and lack of women’s rights. The IRGC killed over 1,500 people in three days, ending the protests quickly.

The government always blamed problems on enemies like America and Israel, never admitting their own faults.

Three years later, a woman named Mahsa Amini died after the morality police beat her for not wearing her hijab correctly, sparking young people to protest across the country with the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom.” Thousands were killed, executed, or jailed, and many of the arrested women reported being raped by IRGC members. 

Today, people are turning away from Islam, even my grandma who helped in the 1979 revolution as a strict Muslim, now hates it, saying religious leaders manipulated her. 

Recent protests have started again, with reports saying 40,000 people died in one week and hundreds of thousands hurt, leaving no one knowing how long this cruel government will last.

Final thoughts on hope 

I left Iran at 18, but the memories remain, and growing up there taught me the high cost of freedom, where forced marriages, poverty, brainwashing, and killings are part of daily life.

But it also showed strength through my mom’s fight, the protesters’ bravery, and people rejecting forced religion.

Iran needs change where women are free, schools teach real knowledge, and speaking out is not deadly and I hope my story helps those who cannot speak, as the government’s hold is weakening.

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Tekst: Annonym producent  

Redaktører: Thea Jürgensen & Megan Vendelbo Owen 

Visuel: Asbjørn Nonbøl