Exiled Iranian women in Germany: 'All that remains is rage!'

"At some point, says Ati (we are using a pseudonym to protect her identity), it becomes impossible to remain on the sidelines. The young molecular medicine researcher fled Iran ten years ago with only a suitcase and a laptop. Today, in her new home of Bonn, Germany, she channels that experience into organizing protests and speaking out publicly against the regime."

""This mullah regime is not legitimate it has never been legitimate when it wages war against its own people!" she tells the crowd at a rally in Bonn's city center, prompting a wave of thunderous applause. The following day, she awakens after a sleepless night, shivering with chills. Many Iranians in exile experience the same reaction as they confront the regime's unrestrained brutality and the thousands killed in the protests a burden that pushes them to their emotional and physical limits."

"Desperately, Ati tries to reach her relatives and friends by phone and social media a near-impossible task under the governmentimposed communications blackout. Ati tells DW that this has had fatal consequences for the country's health sector. "Communication between hospitals has also been cut off. That means people are dying because they cannot receive care quickly enough.""

Ati fled Iran ten years ago with only a suitcase and a laptop and now organizes protests in Bonn, Germany. She calls the mullah regime illegitimate for waging war against its own people and speaks publicly against its brutality. Exiled Iranians experience severe emotional and physical strain confronting state violence and thousands of deaths in the protests. Government-imposed communications blackouts prevent contact with relatives and disrupt coordination between hospitals, causing deadly delays in care. Medical volunteers face arrests and killings, and ambulances are reportedly used to detain protesters. Familial divisions deepen but strengthen Ati's resolve to keep protesting.

Read at www.dw.com