Since long years in prison till this day, I have always, at any time and place, tried to use any small opportunity to achieve my humanitarian goals. When the security apparatus, by imprisoning other activists and me, was trying to limit our platform for activism, our resources, and our communications in order to stop us, I used the smallest available windows of communication and tried to voice the human rights violations that were happening in the prison and my surroundings. Maybe this was the most effective activism I could possibly do from the prison.
Human Right Activists (HRA), with Human Right Activist News Agency (HRANA) added later on, has been my main partner in human rights activism from the very beginning. I knew Keyvan Rafiee personally and had worked with him outside the prison, I also have kept in contact with Jamal Hosseini and other members during all these years.
However, I started cooperating more seriously with HRANA after my time in prison, which lasted about three years, and it was a broader and more complicated experience having the title of “Human Rights Reporter” compared to being a “prisoner.”
I do not intend to share my observations about the accomplishments of HRA or specifically HRANA. Instead, I would like to take this opportunity to describe what kind of qualities a person should have to work for this organization. For those who are wondering how HRA could thrive and move forward for ten years, I am listing 12 of the essential qualities and capabilities that I discern from my personal experience:
- To somewhat forget your personal life.
- To be able to deal with eating less or not eating on time.
- To be able to put in at least 16 hours of productive work per day.
- To be able to tolerate and endure criticism and gossip from everyone.
- To be able to handle the back pain from long hours of sitting.
- To be able to talk on the phone for a few hours a day without a break.
- To emotionally be strong enough to transfer the news of the execution of a son to his mother.
- To publish the news of executions, tortures and other horrific news daily, yet not lose hope and motivation in the work.
- To be able to not sleep at all or wake up and work at any time of the day.
- To be able to live with stress.
- To be able to always have financial struggles.
- To repeat these for years and years on a daily basis!
If you are such a person, congratulations, and I advise you to contact HRANA. Facing all kinds of difficulties, it needs people like you.
