Eye Witness: My best friend is back and she reports from Iran!

She is one of my most "militant" fellow greenbeans. She was one of the smartest kids in school, our math-wiz. She is one of the strongest persons I have even known and yet one of the most sensitive and delicate ones. She is a medical doctor now. I am taking this letter VERY seriously; and I wish to share it with you. I am taking the city names out; but she is writing from a central province of Iran. ### is where she grew up; XXX and YYY are little cities in that province, and $$$ is where she lives now. She permitted me to publish this.

Hi dear Naj

How are you khanomi [lady]? I am glad to be back, missed my friends and my relaxing life here. I love Iran but I can see that it will get harder to live there as times goes by. I spend most of my short trip in ###. I heard little about 22 bahman news there . I wasn’t able to upset my elderly father by having a trip to Tehran on 22 bahman. ### was extremely controlled and people were isolated. At least a week prior to 22 bahman, internet were disconnected or too slow to be used, BBC and other sources were blocked. Some people had access to VOA. Most ###'s went to [the sea] for shopping; as a result, there was heavy traffic on the way to and from [the port]. Some public sectors forced their employee to attend the government demonstration . I did not see any green sign in ###. streets were quite and parandeh par nemizad [even birds didn't fly]. I took photos. Every state had to send 10 thousand people to Tehran to attend the government demonstration. High speed internet in some public sectors was very well controlled. People were caught and given warning just a day or 2 after visiting a website like balatarion or VOA. They also received a warning SMS the night before 22 bahman to not attend the rally other wise they would face jail and ....some young people went to Tehran for green demonstration but my cousin said the roads were blocked in Kashan to stop them from reaching Tehran. Sadly I talked to a few simple minded people who did really believe Ahmadinejad was trying to save Iran from USA and Israel... people were preoccupied with their routines . One of my cousins said they have underground meetings and they attend Tehran for green demonstrations without telling their family. I found myself more curious/nervous about 22 bahman news than almost most ###'s that I met. I nervously was trying to find a channel on satellite to give me all news but it was not very successful and eventually I gave up following news. My in-laws had access to VOA. Sadly superstition and religious beliefs among ###s were grosser than ever. Even in a national newspaper there was a warning about the intensity of superstition (by 2 mullaas ...) As you may also know ### has been the most unsafe city of Iran, lately. And I truly believe this statement about superstition is right ...
From a medical point of view, foresee a medical disaster soon in ### with possibly treatment resistance bugs that will kill people. Everyone acts doctor and the amount of self medications is GROSSSSSSSSSSSS....medical ethics do not exist there as well...
In XXX, Niroye entezami was defeated in the court as they gave wrong information to XXX people that resulted in the chaos that we all heard about. They are to pay compensation to people who were injured/died in the clashe. In YYY emamzadeha [the saint graves] are getting robbed, lol their graves are dug, likely in order to get access to antiques! This has resulted in gor be gor shodane ememha lol [goor be goor shodan = changing grave, a form of damnation]

Tehran, overall I spend about 3 to 4 days in Tehran. Superficially, people have more freedom. They are not picked on because of the type of cloths they have on. I saw several Iranian females not wearing their scarf in the international airport just prior to the checking point when I arrived there.

The air pollution was ++++++ , people seems to have they normal activities, you don’t see much different but you hear things like: gathering in front of Evin everyday which I am regretting to miss seeing that. I attended an NGO conference and was surprised by the level of their activities. Unfortunately greedy obstetrician who did the speech annoyed me so much with her stupid ideas , she showed slides of plastic surgeries that she had done on her patients and got attention of several females who desperately were waiting to take her business card.....

The centre for defending human right and lawyers without boarders were extremely active, some of the lawyers are exhausted trying to help political prisoners including adolescents. Generally there was an optimistic view that situation will improve gradually. It can’t be worse as they had already experienced a long standing coup d'etat that was unsuccessful. Economically, the government is collapsing.

I went to Tochal on my last day and it was amazing. There were singing saromad zemston [a popular green song, adapted from an older one: winter's over] and dancing in station 2. Apparently in station 7 there is a free life ... I am so proud of the Tehranies. They are smart and I am sure they can’t be defeated.

By the way 22 bahman in Tehran was very controlled and hokomat nezami started a week prior to that. Checking at nights ...to create intense fear ....Probably the most restricted demonstration since election but the government can’t continue doing that due to high costs.

As soon as I arrived back in $$$ I read all detailed news a.... I think we should take it easy and relax. Green movement will continue and changes will happen gradually. Iranians overseas are much more tense and eager about news than Iranian who live in Iran. Practically in Tehran you can read the Keyhan and get all news by guessing lol

You know I am not good in reporting, that was my observation in my short trip. I feel very relaxed after visiting Iran. I do recommend it to you. I think if you don’t visit it soon, it may get harder or may be impossible to do it later...sorry for the sporadic writing and not proof reading ;)