Escape from Iran: protesters regroup in Iraq after perilous journey

The Gaurdian -Dec 19th2022

In late October, Paiman, an Iranian protester from the restive city of Mahabad, lay in a hospital ward, guarded by regime officials who had gunned him down during anti-government demonstrations.

Buckshot from a shotgun blast riddled his legs and torso, and blows to his head with wooden clubs had left him dazed and in agony.

Paiman needed treatment, which he was not about to get from a regime where mercy, let alone medicine, has been in short supply since the outset of an uprising that – three months since it began – continues to pose a profound and sustained threat to Iran’s hardline leadership.

The 28-year-old veterinarian’s fate seemed tied to that of other protesters who had died in the same hospital often two to three days after being admitted. But his brother and cousin had other ideas.

“We launched a rescue operation and took him from the bed, then we smuggled him here,” said Paiman’s brother, Aso, from a safe house in Erbil in

neighbouring Iraq. “It was a four-day journey across the mountains, much of it on horses. It was the toughest thing we have done.”

Paiman and his relatives are among the few demonstrators to have made the precarious journey from Iran to the relative safety of Iraq, where some survivors of the violence are trying to regroup.

Iraqi Kurdish officials estimate that dozens of protesters have crossed the border. Protesters themselves say the number is likely to be in the low hundreds.

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/19/escape-from-iran-protesters-regroup-in-iraq-after-perilous-journey