Nasrin's story - IDSVT 2025

More than thir­ty years ago, I suf­fered ter­ri­bly at the hands of the Iran­ian gov­ern­ment. I was impris­oned for eight years, and they tried to silence me with tor­ture. All I’d done was take to the streets to demand my free­dom and lib­er­ty from an oppres­sive and author­i­tar­i­an regime.   

The tor­tur­ers tried to take my voice away. And ther­a­py, writ­ing and art played a vital role in help­ing me to express myself again. When I first came to the UK, after leav­ing my friends and fam­i­ly behind, I felt lost. But I was giv­en sup­port by organ­i­sa­tions like Free­dom from Tor­ture that had a trans­for­ma­tive impact on my life. I joined Write to Life, a cre­ative writ­ing group for sur­vivors of tor­ture. Through writ­ing I regained my voice.   

For many years, writ­ing was a means of escape for me. But art opened my eyes and I realised that it could be a way of fight­ing back, as well as a means of change. It can pro­vide a coun­ter­point to what those in pow­er and their media are show­ing to peo­ple. Art can change people’s minds. That’s why art is seen as a threat to pow­er. 

Shar­ing my sto­ry through writ­ing, and now through my art, is such a pow­er­ful way to tell dif­fi­cult sto­ries. It can give such an impor­tant insight into the very painful real­i­ties faced by those of us who’ve expe­ri­enced tor­ture. 

Ther­a­py at Freedom from Torture helped me to slow­ly clear these images from my head, and over time, I was able to feel safe and strong again. 

Through my art, writing and activism work, I can raise aware­ness of the hor­rors hap­pen­ing in Iran. Being able to do this has helped give my life mean­ing since I had to leave my home.   

When I first got to the UK, my head was full of the scenes of prison. All I could think about were the faces of my friends who’d been exe­cut­ed, the noise of the fir­ing squad and the cry­ing of hun­gry chil­dren in the prison, the tor­ture that we expe­ri­enced, and the face of my father when I told him I’d been sen­tenced to death. Ther­a­py at Freedom from Torture helped me to slow­ly clear these images from my head, and over time, I was able to feel safe and strong again. 

Still so many peo­ple in Iran have been impris­oned, they’ve been tor­tured and are lan­guish­ing in pris­ons. I was lucky, I was able to get out. I’ve had the chance to recov­er and rebuild my life here in the UK. But my heart aches for the women who are still being sub­ject­ed to the same kind of tor­ture that I was. It’s hor­rif­ic and depress­ing that this is still happening.