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I grew up in the religious dictatorship of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Mine and many of my generation’s is a bitter story of discrimination and oppression under the veil of Sharia. As if the wings we used to have have been clipped to make sure we would never be able to spread them and fly away.

— Darya Safai Speech at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy (2016)

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I know what it is to live as an oppressed Iranian woman. Now that I live in freedom, it gives me the strength and power to struggle for the rights of Iranian women whose voices are muted.

Young Iranians should keep on fighting to gain their rights back. They should never give up, even when the road is long and exhausting. If you keep fighting, there will be a day that change will arrive.

In the West we have come a long way to obtain the achievements we can now enjoy. These achievements, such as gender equality, can be threatened by the practice of religion in the workplace. Faith is a personal matter, you should keep it to yourself.

Opening of the sitting No. 5 (2020)

In my dreams sometimes I am back in Iran. Even in the 21st century, they still have the “morality police”, who will come to me if my headscarf is not worn properly. I wake up from my nightmares and think: “Oh, I am safe.” But I carry a heavy load because I am not free until those people are free.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Darya Safai (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.