Mardjan Seighali
Mardjan Seighali (born 1964) is an Iranian-born Dutch human rights activist, refugee worker and non-profit director. In 2013 Seighali became director of the Stichting voor Vluchteling Studenten UAF (Refugee Students Foundation). She serves on the Advisory Board of the College voor de Rechten van de Mens, and a member of the Supervisory Board of Het Loo Palace. Biography Youth Mardjan Seighali was born in 1964 in the northern Iranian city of Rasht on the Caspian Sea. Until the outbreak of the Iranian Revolution in 1978, Seighali had a protected family life, but the fall of the Shah inspired her to take an interest in politics. Adult life in Iran After the Revolution was hijacked by Islamists in 1979, Seighali joined a progressive party to fight for freedom and equal opportunities. She distributed pamphlets and attended meetings where she participated in discussions. Because of these oppositional political activities, she had to go in hiding for a few months at her aunt's home in Tehran when she was 17 years old; however, there was little she could do in daily life because she had to remain out of sight. Eventually she was able to persuade her father to let her celebrate Nowruz together in her parental home, but on the day of her arrival in 1982 she was arrested in her sleep, after which she was imprisoned for 1.5 years. She has said she experienced extreme fear every day, she was tortured, and several women with whom she was imprisoned were executed. Despite all the torture, she managed to not let her will be broken. Seighali was eventually released after her parents made a deal with the regime, in which they paid a heavy ransom, she was forced to marry and was henceforth banned from studying and working. Seighali was furious that she had had no say in this decision, and that she now had to live a life dedicated to making other people happy; she herself was (initially) not happy at all. Her parents refused to discuss the deal with her, and she was not allowed to tell them about what she had been through in prison; it was painful for everyone involved. After some resistance, on 8 December 1983 she eventually married Rasul, a friend of hers of several years, even though she was not ready for marriage at all yet. It took several years before they developed true love for each other, and eventually had two sons. Flight to the Netherlands In 1989, Rasul as cameraman secretly filmed an execution with the intention of smuggling the footage out of the country, but he was caught, had to immediately flee abroad, and ended up in the Netherlands. The regime soon confiscated their house, and Seighali and her children had to move back with her parents. She was then arrested several times and released again shortly after as an act of intimidation. Seighali made several failed attempts and fleeing the country. After 21 June 1990 Manjil–Rudbar earthquake hit Rasht, Rasul restored