19 years old, retail assistant, professional cyclist.
Erfan was at work when he saw protests were starting. Out of curiosity, he left the store to see what was happening.
“I had always wanted to be a part of something like that. I saw the crowd spilling out into the streets and I went along to see what’s going on.”
The first day that Erfan had joined the protests, he sensed the danger. He told us that he noticed the situation becoming increasingly precarious. But it wasn’t until the next day that he joined that things got really intense.
“Around 8 or 9PM I started to notice that there were more cops.”
@eyesofarevolution
Erfan had gone into the streets that day out of curiosity to see what was going on. The tensions had increased when a Mullah’s car was set on fire. Erfan was standing nearby when he noticed the flames. Before Erfan was able to assess the situation, he noticed that people had started to flee.
“The officers were blocking the streets, arresting anyone they could get their hands on.”
Erfan describes being disoriented as the crowd was running away. He would later learn that the protesters were fleeing police that were firing at them. He sees the crowd running away in his direction, and before he has time to process what is going on, he is hit by pellets.
“I didn’t immediately realise that I’d been hit. My teeth broke. I noticed something was rattling around in my mouth and I spat it out, I was very confused.”
As Erfan begins to flee, he describes realising that he can’t see very well. His right eye can’t see anything at all. In a panic, he was fleeing and calling for help. That’s when the people surrounded him, realising that he had been injured, helped get him to shelter in a nearby shopping complex. There they helped him to wash his face. Erfan tells us that being surrounded by people on the street that were helping him get to safety gave him a sense of protection, he said because of the people, he did not feel scared. He says people that were around him helped him to a car and protected him as they passed through multiple police checkpoints.
“I would plead for them to look at my eye and tell me what’s happening, but they kept telling me that it was nothing and that I’ll be fine.”
But Erfan’s vision wasn’t coming back and he was becoming increasingly concerned. He calls his uncle who comes to take him to a hospital. They are denied treatment at the first hospital, at the second hospital, they denied that Erfan had been injured by the police, rather they said that he had been injured by another foreign projectile going into his eye. This was how he was admitted to the second hospital where he was finally operated on.
We asked Erfan if he had seen others injured like him at the hospital. Erfan says he thinks he saw roughly 25 to 30 others who had had eye injuries, most of whom had come from the Kurdish city of Mahabad.
A total of three pellets had gone into Erfan’s right eye, destroying his optic nerve and his retina. Erfan has had three operations to attempt to maintain the shape of his eye, but with the damage to the optic nerve, it is not likely that his eye will ever be able to see again.
Before being injured, Erfan had been a professional cyclist. After the incident, he had been given instruction by doctors not to do extraneous activities.
“After this happened to me, I just didn’t have motivation anymore.”
We asked Erfan if he’s come to terms with the condition of his eye.
“I think… it’s a very strange feeling, to think that your eye is gone forever.”
Erfan’s family were upset by the news, particularly his parents who wondered why Erfan had gone out to the streets, and why he hadn’t told them of his plans to participate. His mother was particularly distressed, especially when the doctors had told Erfan’s family that his eye will likely need to be removed.
“Now, my eye is a little bit lazy, it’s not aligned with my other eye anymore. I don’t like to see myself in photos because I can see that my eyes aren’t how they used to be.”
Erfan has been told by doctors that he can have plastic surgery after some time has passed to fix the alignment of his eyes, but he says that he doesn’t want to put himself through that.
Erfan didn’t have any particular expectations when he went out that night. He had thought maybe there would be protests for a couple of months, and that there would be some sort of a response to the demands of the people, but he didn’t go out with any specific goal.
For himself, he had wanted to start and have his own business and work for himself. Make a living and be able to support himself. But at the moment he has struggled to find work. In job interviews when they ask him about his eye and he tells them the truth of what happened to him, they reject his applications.
Erfan had wanted to maybe move away from Iran, maybe go to Germany, but he says that he would miss his home. That leaving and not being able to come back to see his country, his family, would be difficult.
Erfan’s message for his fellows who have also sustained eye injuries is for them to try their best to come to terms with what’s happened.
“Things are never going to go back to the way that they were before. We have no choice but to adapt to our new reality. What’s been done can’t be undone.”
Finally, we asked Erfan if he has any regrets.
“No, I don’t have any regrets. I’m proud.”
Erfan says that his a question he’s frequently asked, and this is always his response.
Eyes for Freedom | Cheshm Baraye Azadi | چشم برای آزادی 