‘The revolution is still alive’: Diary of an Iranian student protesting against the regime
“The revolution is still alive in people, and people are looking forward to a big change to this country.”
These are the words of a young man studying at a university in Iran, who has shared his diary entries with Sky News.
Mohammed has seen first hand how authorities have cracked down on protests at universities and how students have adapted to continue their activity. His name has been changed to protect his identity.
When demonstrations break out against the nation’s repressive regime, it’s often students who are the beating heart of the resistance.
The sweeping unrest that has followed the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody is no different, and more than 700 students have been arrested, according to the activist HRANA news agency. At least four people have been executed in connection with the demonstrations.
Diary entry one – University protests
“I want to talk about the day they executed Majidreza Rahnavard.
“I was totally shocked. I was really, really sad and very angry. I wanted to do something.
Majidreza Rahnavard was executed by the regime
“I went to university. I was looking forward to seeing students come out and start chanting.
“But because of the high level of suppression and bad behaviours towards students we don’t have that kind of protests but things have changed.
“Changed to writing slogans on walls. At one of the campuses they do artistic protests, they hung hanging ropes from the ceiling in order to criticise the regime’s execution of these two guys.
“But although the form has changed for now the revolution is still alive in people, and people are looking forward to a big change to this country.
“The resistance groups are very active right now, a lot of them have been arrested and they try to keep the fire of the revolution going.
“For those who are truly against the regime, they don’t have a normal life. How can we have a normal life?
“Every step we walk, every piece of food we eat, every minute we spend working, every minute we spend studying and reading, we are thinking of the people who are in the prison.
“We are thinking of the people who are executed or killed on the streets.
“What we want from the world is please if you can’t do something good for us, please do not help this regime.
“You know their overthrow is our job. Stop talking and negotiating with them. This is a regime which is going to fire back at you if you continue working with them.
“We need the whole world to isolate this regime.”
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UK imposes sanctions on Iran following execution of British-Iranian national accused of spying
Diary entry two – Escaping into people’s homes
“I’m going to talk about one of the experiences I had in Iran during the last three months here during the revolution.
“We were on the street, we were protesting and chanting.
“Suddenly the special forces of the police and plain-clothes agents attacked us, and so we had to escape.
“We tried to find a way to get out of there.
“I saw that some people would open the doors to their homes to rescue us and we went into one of them.
“I have heard that in some houses they have saved some of the people. They also treated them because they got shot and used first aid kits to take care of those who were injured.
“That was so brave of them because if the government knows that, finds that out, they will also arrest them. Some of those arrested are people who have helped people on the street.”
Diary entry three – ‘She slapped his face and ran away’
“I also saw many girls, especially girls, who were so brave that they would stand in front of those with guns.
“In one case, one girl even slapped the face of one of the plain-clothes agents who had captured one of the guys and was forcing his foot on his back.
“She slapped his face and ran away. The good thing was that the people tried to help him.”
Diary entry four – Protest in Tehran
“I talked to one of my friends, she is a brave girl.
“She has a friend who was arrested when she wanted to join the people who were protesting in Tehran.
“When she got out of her car to join the protesters, some people suddenly put her in a van. Unfortunately she has been raped.
“After some days she was released, I think in the same neighbourhood.
“She was in a bad place but I think she has gained her energy back and she is even more brave now.”
The aftermath of a fire at Evin prison last October. Pic: AP
Diary entry five – Evin prison
“I also remember the night when Evin prison was set on fire. That was a very, very bad night.
“Many people in Tehran went on to the street and tried to get to the prison.
“We just got into the cars and tried to get there, but unfortunately they had blocked the roads to not let the people get there.
“That was just a warzone, they just shot some people with tear gas.”
The fast-moving developments on Trump’s Ukraine peace deal are dominating the G20 summit in South Africa, as European leaders scramble to put together a counter-proposal to the US-Russia 28-point plan and reinsert Ukraine into these discussions.
European countries are now working up proposals to put to President Trump ahead of his deadline of Thursday to agree a deal.
Ukraine is in a tight spot. It cannot reject Washington outright – it relies on US military support to continue this war – but neither can it accept the terms of a deal that is acutely favourable to Russia, requiring Ukraine to give up territory not even occupied by Moscow and reducing its army.
Overnight, the UK government has reiterated its position that any deal must deliver a “just and lasting peace”.
Ukraine war latest: Kyiv to discuss ending war in talks in Switzerland
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Keir Starmer calls for growth plan at G20
The prime minister, who spoke with E3 allies President Macron of France, Chancellor Merz of Germany and President Zelenskyy of Ukraine on the phone on Friday, is having more conversations today with key partners as they work out how to handle Trump and improve this deal for Ukraine.
One diplomatic source told me allies are being very careful not to criticise Trump or his approach for fear of exacerbating an already delicate situation.
Instead, the prime minister is directing his attacks at Russia.
Read more:
Trump’s 28-point Ukraine peace plan in full
Analysis: We could all pay if Europe doesn’t guarantee Ukraine’s security
Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends a plenary session on the first day of the G20 Leaders’ Summit. Pic: Reuters
“There is only one country around the G20 table that is not calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine and one country that is deploying a barrage of drones and missiles to destroy livelihoods and murder innocent civilians,” he said on Friday evening.
“Time and again, Russia pretends to be serious about peace, but its actions never live up to its words.”
Pic: AP
On the Trump plan, the prime minister said allies are meetin on Saturday “to discuss the current proposal on the table, and in support of Trump’s push for peace, look at how we can strengthen this plan for the next phase of negotiations”.
Strengthening the plan really means that they want to rebalance it towards Ukraine’s position and make it tougher on Russia.
“Ukraine has been ready to negotiate for months, while Russia has stalled and continued its murderous rampage. That is why we must all work together with both the US and Ukraine, to secure a just and lasting peace once and for all,” said the prime minister.
“We will continue to coordinate closely with Washington and Kyiv to achieve that. However, we cannot simply wait for peace.
“We must strain every sinew to secure it. We must cut off Putin’s finance flows by ending our reliance on Russian gas. It won’t be easy, but it’s the right thing to do.”
Pic: AP
Europeans hadn’t even seen this deal earlier in the week, in a sign that the US is cutting other allies out of negotiations – for now at least.
Starmer and other European leaders want to get to a position where Ukraine and Europe are at least at the table.
There is some discussion about whether European leaders such as Macron and Meloni might travel to Washington to speak to Trump early next week in order to persuade him of the European and Ukrainian perspective, as leaders did last August following the US-Russian summit in Alaska.
But Sky News understands there are no discussions about the PM travelling to Washington next week ahead of the budget.
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