Months have passed since the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, yet many victims and survivors of one of the most violent crackdowns by the Islamic Republic in the history of social movements in Iran remain unheard.
Nemat Afshar is one such victim of the crackdown on the movement. An athlete and a cafe owner, he took to the streets on September 20, 2022, in Qazvin and was shot with a shotgun.
My interview with Nemat was over the phone. The internet connection was unstable, frequently disconnecting and reconnecting, but despite these challenges, we managed to speak.
Security forces arrested Nemat Afshar the same night he was injured, with a wounded eye and pellets lodged in his face and body. Consequently, he couldn’t receive timely treatment for his injured eye. Had he been taken to the hospital that night instead of the detention center, he might still have some vision left.
With limited time and the possibility of losing the connection at any moment, I chose to ask fewer questions and let Nemat share his story. He spoke of how revenge is not the answer. Nemat Afshar was arrested again last year, on the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death, at a friend’s house, but he was released on bail after a short while.
The light from the phone hurts his eyes. I’ve heard this type of visual problem many times from people with eye injuries, both when they’re in front of a phone and when they’re in front of a camera or under a projector.
On one of the nights of nationwide protests in 2022, the security forces aimed at protestors’ heads, faces, and eyes with their guns.
Nemat also took to the streets in one of Qazvin’s neighborhoods on the first nights of the protests and joined the demonstrators. The crowd gathered in the square, while the forces lurked in the alley. They suddenly rushed toward the protesters. Nemat was at the front of the line, confronting the forces.
One of the agents crouched down, and Nemat saw this scene unfold. The agent aimed his shotgun at Nemat’s face and pulled the trigger. Nemat, who had been shot in the leg and back before, said, “The security force got me this time.”
He doesn’t know how many bullets split his eyeball and facial flesh. He estimates there were more than 20 bullets. “One pellet is still in my temple. One in my eye. I removed the rest myself. My lip was pierced, and I pulled the pellet out of that side of my lip. Another pellet lodged in one side of my body.”
Reviewing the narratives and files of at least 120 protest crackdown victims shows that most were targeted for being at the forefront of the gatherings. Of the cases IranWire has investigated since December 2022, all the victims have been threatened, arrested, and, in some cases, sentenced to prison by security agencies.
What happened in the detention center with a bloody eye? Nemat Afshar, now 37, lives with his mother. He had gone home after being shot. Security forces raided their house at night. There were six or seven agents in both plain clothes and military uniforms. Nemat didn’t want to resist; his eye was injured, and pellets had grazed his face. But when his mother stepped forward to stand in front of the officers, they disrespected her, and Nemat lost his patience, stepping up to defend his mother.
The officers struck Nemat in the mouth with the butt of a gun, breaking some of his teeth. He was arrested without knowing where they were taking him or where he was held. He was blindfolded. They provided no explanations, nor did they inform his mother of his whereabouts until some time after his arrest. Two weeks later, they finally told his mother, who had been relentlessly searching for her son, “He is in temporary detention. Do not pursue; we will release him.”
During the days Nemat’s mother was desperately searching for him, the interrogations continued. With his eyes blindfolded, Nemat, whose sight was on the verge of being lost due to the agents’ weapons, faced questioning. They didn’t allow him to defend himself: “They said I was [a member of] ISIS.”
Nemat was under interrogation for 10 days. The officers demanded to know who had sent him to the street. When Nemat answered that he had come for his rights, they didn’t believe him. “They broke my finger right there. They put a paper in front of me to sign. I said, let me read it first. My hand was on the table. When I said this, they struck my hand and broke my finger. They said, ‘You don’t set the terms for us, we tell you what to do.’ They tried to force me to confess, which I refused.”
During the interrogation, Nemat’s ribs were also broken. Three months after his arrest, Nemat was released under a “Leadership amnesty.” However, he was required to commit to staying away from protests and refraining from any actions deemed “against the security of the system.”
Despite enduring and resisting torture, Nemat’s injured eye remains a significant concern. Had he been taken to the hospital instead of the detention center, his left eye might have retained some degree of vision.
After his release, Nemat was unable to undergo the necessary surgery. He visited Farabi Hospital in Tehran but received a vague response, suggesting the treatment might no longer be effective. Disheartened, he was discouraged from pursuing further treatment. Additionally, he lost his job and could not afford the surgery.
Nemat, an athlete who previously ran a canteen, saw his business shut down before the protests. Authorities sealed his canteen, claiming it was inappropriate for young people to smoke hookah and drink coffee there, and confiscated all its property. His injuries prevented him from continuing his sports career.
In March, a group of citizens provided some assistance, enabling him to have surgery on his eye. After more than six months since his injury, he traveled to Shiraz for the procedure. Surgeons operated on his eyelids, drained the remaining blood from his eyes, and injected silicone behind his retina to help it adhere.
Currently, Nemat can only perceive light and detect movement as shadows. He reflects on his experiences, “I still experience stress and nightmares. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed. The bullet itself didn’t have a significant psychological impact, but the psychological damage came from my arrest—how they treated my mother, and the subsequent torture, cursing, and humiliation had a profound effect on me.”
Nemat adds, “When I compare myself to those who harmed me, I see that no circumstances would make me act like them, regardless of my beliefs or any amount of money offered. I don’t want to be like them or behave in that manner.”
He emphasizes that he is not seeking revenge but hopes for justice, “As a human being, I must stand against injustice. I will not lose my rights, but I don’t want to inflict on others what was done to me. I am not seeking revenge. Justice is not revenge.”
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