Thanks for your kind words. We are fine in Tehran. I come back from mountain-climbing just now, in fact. I went to the demonstrations yesterday; we have an exciting life here =)

I didn’t mean to be offending you by criticising some of your points either. If I did, I apologise. You are right, what’s happening here should speak for itself. However, during turmoil and instabilities, the media (in particular the foreign media) does rather find a good excuse to sex things up and exaggerate a lot even though a lot of the stuff they’ll feed people is not true.

About touching the hand of a girlfriend; I am a university student. I did my first year of studies in the UK and to be honest with you, I didn’t see so much romance going on in the lecture halls of my university in the UK than I see here, in the University of Tehran. Couples sit next to one another and hold hands during the breaks and actually go much more beyond that once they leave the university. The so-called morality police here does not stop you in the middle of the street and go, “Oi! Get in the car. You’re holding hands!” No, it doesn’t happen like that. Most of those who do get arrested are either journalists writing anti-government articles, etc. or some sort of activists. So, the police (which gets orders from the government) uses things like “couples holding hands” to justify arrests like that. I have read all the stories you’ve sent me when they came out here as well. I cannot confirm they are true, because most of them came out in personal blogs in Iran and were not confirmed by reliable sources.

I know that a lot of the music bands here do not get given permission to perform in public, etc. but to tell you the truth, you find a more diverse collection of music records and albums in most Iranians’ houses than you do anywhere else. So, I agree with the music part to an extent.

Again, I’ll disagree with you about having real conversations in the public. A protest, CJ, is very different to a conversation. I took part in demonstrations in London and the police was always there to stop any form of violence taking place. The police has always been present in protests here as well, perhaps sometimes even initiating violence. However, at other times, wherever I go, people discuss politics and other matters freely. Despite the internet filtering – which I find a complete bit of nonsense – people still read uncensored news and so on. Of course, there shouldn’t be any censoring or such restrictions alike, but it’s not like North Korea where you aren’t even allowed a laptop and you get hanged for practicing your religion in public.

Finally, I wanted to mention a few things. I have travelled to many parts of the world. I have always had a lot of respect for people of different beliefs, traditions, cultures and so on. What I never liked about some countries though, is the way they tried to impose their personal beliefs on others. If I wear the headscarf, it’s my business. I don’t like people sitting there, staring at me and thinking “oh, she must be so oppressed.” Why should the west think that Iranian women are oppressed because they dress modestly? Many of my friends who don’t show much interest in religion actually keep their modest look when they go abroad as well. Sure, you have no right to force people to dress in a certain way, but I believe that you also don’t have the right to create tension by stirring up things and trying to get people to feel as if they are being oppressed when others aren’t, so they should end up feeling sorry for themselves.

My boyfriend is a white English man. He had many misunderstandings about Iran when we first met (more than two years ago) as well. I showed him what it really feels like to be an Iranian though and it did really open up his mind to a lot of things he didn’t already (we’ve never been arrested for holding hands in the streets of Tehran by the way). My point is, nothing’s like seeing the truth for yourself and not trusting everything that you hear. Iran is a beautiful country, with great people, great nature, great food and music and literature and art. It’s been misunderstood in the world. I like to – as an Iranian – spread the truth to the outside world, even if it means writing a bunch of articles and commenting on blogs.

Just to address your points, I am Australian and I’ve not been to Iran, so while I have studied Iran’s history obviously I don’t know as much about your country as other people do. I don’t claim to. I’m just trying to support democracy as I’ve been moved by what’s happening as well.

If I got any details wrong then I apologise; it wasn’t intentional. However, I did try to base everything on fact and keep emotion out of it; I’m not the kind of person to just throw statements out there for effect. I think what’s happening in Iran should speak for itself.

What you’ve noted might be because it’s hard to get information out of Iran and to know what’s accurate; but all of this has been verified by our media, so if it isn’t true, then let me know – I’d like to see your impression of Iran.

First, about touching the hand of a female friend: I meant a girlfriend, that an unmarried couple seen walking and holding hands could be arrested by the morality police. There have been numerous reports of this, including one where a woman died in custody after being arrested. Perhaps you haven’t seen that but the restrictions are often referred to over here.

As far as listening to music goes, I don’t know how hard it is to enforce but I have read and heard that some types of music are not allowed to be listened to or performed in public in Iran, particularly popular Western music and other styles considered indecent. They have been banned and many musicians have had to move underground or overseas because of that; it’s been highlighted in a film by Bahman Ghobadi, No One Knows About Persian Cats, and in many articles.

You also mentioned conversations in public. I consider a real conversation (free speech) to be the ability to talk about anything you want to without recrimination; to be able to criticise the authorities or anyone you wish. We all know people have been arrested for having different opinions in Iran; the crackdown alone shows that legitimate dissent and debate is not tolerated in public, so IMO you cannot have a real and open conversation.

Finally about Mousavi – I didn’t mean he was backing away from the protests, if that’s how it sounded. I (and others) feel the opposition is moving into a new phase and much of what happens next will be political opposition. By distancing himself I meant that Mousavi is focusing more now on working behind the scenes, which is the next logical step for the movement, given the danger to the protesters and himself. It was what I meant in the next paragraphs, about change needing to happen from the inside out.

Maybe it wasn’t clear enough in the post but the parts you highlighted really weren’t meant to show what life is like in Iran but what life is like in democracies like mine. Many people can’t imagine losing the freedoms we have – we take our democracy for granted and I wanted to make people realise what’s going on. I think that’s why it’s so important we support you, because we know what you have to lose.

Anyway, I’ve tried to explain my points a little better. I don’t think I exaggerated or let my emotions get in the way of facts – as a writer I rely heavily on research, and I researched it like all my posts. As it’s meant to show a Western point of view, I think it’s realistic.

But as I said, I don’t live in Iran so I can’t know what it’s really like. I can only rely on what I’ve heard. So I hope it wasn’t insensitive; I only wanted to help.

Please stay safe over there. We’re thinking of you.

“I can’t imagine living in a country where I could be arrested for touching the hand of a female friend” OK, so I’m guessing you’re a male and that you’ve either been arrested for holding your female friend’s hand in Iran or that you’ve see/heard such a thing happen? I’m sorry, but that simply sounds absurd to me. I’ve lived in this country all my life and never seen such a thing happen.
“to not be able to have a real conversation in public or listen to popular music” Wow! Now, that’s what you call exaggerating or or being over the top, rather. You see, when you’re writing a post for an event when many people will be reading it, it’s best to make sure you don’t make up facts or state your emotions as facts. Neither of what I just quoted from you are true here.

“Mousavi also appears to be distancing himself from the street protests and a partial recount of votes has found no sign of fraud or error, creating more doubts.” Mousavi is not distancing himself from anyone. He’s not in a hideout either. He’s simply trying to avoid more bloodshed and acting on a calculated scheme. You can’t expect him to tell his people to start rallying whenever he feels like it!

You sound like an Iranian who’s never lived in Iran to me. Or perhaps I’m wrong. Do tell me if otherwise is true. Anyways, next time, please read up some more on Iran and make your posts slightly more realistic.

Thanks for taking part anyways.