Under constant fear—that’s how some Iranians describe life living in Britain today.
That fear, they say, does not come from the country they now live in, but from the harsh Middle Eastern regime they were born into.
Despite being about 4,000 kilometres away, Iran’s repressive establishment has sinister tentacles that reach as far as the UK.
Akbari, an Iranian former deputy defence minister, was arrested in 2019 and accused of espionage for MI6 related to past nuclear talks between Iran and western nations, according to reports.
BBC Persian stated at the time that Akbari denied the charge, and said he was tortured and forced to confess on camera to crimes he did not commit.
His execution not only shocked Iran and the UK but also heightened the fears of British-Iranians who have been outspoken against its regime.
“Whoever is trying to be the voice of people in Iran, complaining about the violation of human rights in Iran, his regime goes after them,” Elha Kani-Zabihi, a British-Iranian scholar, told The Epoch Times.
“And usually, it’s the main members from the main opposition, which is the MEK.
“They’re one of the coalition in the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the main opposition and the enemy of this regime.
“And they have lost quite a lot of members, being attacked outside Iran, in Europe, in Turkey,” she said.
“We have been campaigning for now three years, for the Iranian Embassy to be closed in London.
Intimidated and Harassed
The Epoch Times spoke to three London-based British-Iranians who say they fear for their safety in the UK after speaking out against the Iranian government.Kamran—a pseudonym—is a business owner in his 50s who has attended a number of street protests calling for the Islamic Republic of Iran to be overthrown.
His family fled the country when he was just eight years old, and since then, they have lived under a climate of fear that has intensified in recent times.
“I’ve been brought up in a family that does not believe in the Islamic Republic of Iran in any way,” he said.
“We were all quite loyal to the previous regime, the monarchy and, you know, we want to free run a secular Iran and that’s what our main aim is.
“So when there are protests in London, I go. And there you are intimidated, harassed, and feel like you are under constant surveillance.
“They take our pictures, they even flew a drone to film us.
“In person, they look at you and they say, we’re gonna get you. I don’t even know who that person is, but they’re taking pictures of you. It’s pretty much fear.”
When asked if he believed those threatening him were linked to the regime, Kamran replied: “100 percent.”
He added: “Me and my children fear we are in danger.
“It is sad that, from our point of view, that I’m a British-citizen and I came to a country that’s supposed to be free and democratic. But I see story after story about how this regime is opening charity centres, Islamic centres.
“They’ve got their tentacles in the United Kingdom. And it seems the UK government is just totally blind to this.”
Reza—also a pseudonym—is a man in his 40s who has lived in the UK since 2020.
He too fled Iran as a child, growing up in a refugee camp in Europe before his family settled on the continent.
“When I came to the UK to study, I was not actually active at all,” he told The Epoch Times.
“I was not fighting against the regime, but that changed over time.
“There was a tipping point with the protests starting last year, because what I saw (happening in Iran) was just unacceptable with my values.
“Arresting girls and women for not wearing the clothes that they deem appropriate, and then beating girls to death, raping girls as a means of punishment or oppression or injecting fear.
“I’ve got three daughters and I just could not sit back and not do anything.
“So that’s when we started going to the demonstrations, being very active on social media, although I have to censor myself.
“All my activities are in disguise, not under my real name because even here in this country, I fear for the safety of myself and my family.”
He added: “You cannot express, although it’s not illegal. We’re just merely expressing our political views and it’s all within the legal framework of our country.
“But I still cannot speak freely.
“I have been to demonstrations, my picture has been taken. I will not be able to go back to Iran because they will arrest me, that’s for sure.
“If you’re born in Iran, which I am, you are, by default, considered Iranian, not British or French, or which other second citizenship that you hold. So, they will arrest me, and God knows what they do.
“I could be executed for what they consider an enemy of God. If you’re going against the regime, they say you’re going against God and you can be executed.”
Vicious Trolling
In her 50s Leila—not her real name—has been living in the UK for many years.She works in education and has been the target of vicious trolling attacks and street abuse for taking part in demonstrations.
“I’ve had a lot of hate messages coming through Instagram, some of them pretty awful,” she told The Epoch Times.
“I’ve been accused of being an Israeli spy along with aggressive abuse.
“I don’t have a massive social platform. I organised a well known protest in London which was publicised, I didn’t want my name in there for fear of what could happen.
“I do feel that now that they’ve got people around that, I don’t know how small a person they will get rid of.”
She added: “When I’ve been outside the Iranian embassy, I’ve been intimidated by the police asking me why I’m taking photos of just outside the Iranian embassy.
“So you know, you very much feel that the police are on their side rather than on ours.
“I think there is more fear in this country now of seeming anti-Islamic. And I think that is what’s holding people back because they’re just so fearful of how it’s going to be seen. This whole political correctness.
Terrorist State
Last month, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly revealed that over 300 individuals and entities had been sanctioned by the UK over Iran’s violent crackdown on protestors.In January, the Guardian reported that the UK and European Union were expected to coordinate moves to brand the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation.
Catherine Perez-Shakdam, a research fellow with the Henry Jackson Society, said the UK, and the world, need to do more to tackle the abuses of the Iranian regime.
“What has been described, happens all the time and it is not even quite a lot, it’s systematic.
“The way that the regime function, they are very well aware that even though a lot of people have moved to the U.S. or the UK, they still have family members living in Iran, because obviously, not everyone is always able to leave.
“So that means that they will target anyone in your family, even extended family.
“For Iranians when they speak out, or if they decide to become a lot more active and vocal against the regime, there’s always this in their mind, thinking, I’m putting my family in danger in a very direct way, where people are getting picked up by the regime, and thrown in jail.”
She added: “I think that we need to understand that Iran is actually a terrorist state, that we need to deal with it the same way that we’ve done with ISIS, the caliphate, that it’s exactly the same kind of terror, that we’re dealing with, the same kind of ideology.
“That they’re committing the same crimes. But for some reason, there’s a disconnect, where, because we’re so used to thinking of Iran as a country, we don’t understand that this country has been hijacked by terrorists and that they are abiding by the rules of terror.
“And they are exporting this terrorism outside and they actually created outposts in the UK.
“So step number one would be to raise awareness and actually understand what we’re dealing with and to do it systematically to actually look at it with fresh eyes and say, we got it wrong, we misunderstood.
“We need to understand that the only way to stop their advances is actually to become a lot more assertive in our rejection of the Islamic Republic on the basis that it’s a terrorist state, not just a country, we’re not dealing with a normal nation state.”
The Epoch Times contacted the Iranian Embassy for comment.
