Hasti Amiri, a former political prisoner and student activist from Allameh Tabataba’i University, has penned a powerful and moving letter to fellow student activist Ali Younesi. Ali has been unjustly detained for over five years without a single day of leave. Hasti’s letter is a testament to the unyielding spirit of resistance among Iranian students and human rights defenders targeted by the regime.
“Your voice from prison is resistance itself,” Hasti writes, a message that echoes the courage of countless prisoners of conscience in Iran. “It shakes the system even in chaos.”
Despite being exiled to Qom and denied basic rights like books and phone calls, Ali Younesi’s defiance continues to inspire. His case highlights the severe repression faced by student activists in Iran, who are targeted for their peaceful advocacy for freedom and democracy. Hasti salutes hi
Full English Translation of Hasti Amiri’s Letter
Hello, dear Ali Younesi,
We’ve never met, but if you trace a few connections, we surely have mutual friends who speak your name with respect—those who knew you before your ordeal and those who met you in prison.
Speaking of ordeals, I called your arrest and suppression a “trouble.” It’s an interesting term. A friend used it—not a political activist, just someone who described their time in solitary and prison as a “trouble” because no other word captured the horror. You were detained without a warrant. Even after your temporary detention period ended, they kept you in custody. You caught COVID in detention, and now, after over five years of imprisonment—two of them in temporary detention—without a single hour of leave, you’re still behind bars. Your letters and every time you raise your voice from the heart of prison are a resistance that, even now, amidst war and bombardment, has the security apparatus scrambling to pile on over six more years of imprisonment and exile to Kerman for you.
Dear Ali, I was one of those people who didn’t like calling you an “elite.” Not that you aren’t one, but I don’t like using that term to defend someone detained or imprisoned. I think, what difference does it make if you carry medals from global or national Olympiads or if you were a dropout? What difference does it make if you were a student at Sharif University or anywhere else? What difference does it make what ideals you defend? When it comes to an accused or imprisoned person, these things shouldn’t matter. But when it comes to you personally, to the story of your life laid bare, it does matter that a country’s elite student is in prison while rent-seeking professors and quota-admitted students roam the universities. It matters what someone sacrifices for their ideals. I think people with a clear line of thought are incredibly valuable. How honorable it is for someone to give up four years of classes, university, foreign scholarships, and a personal future for their ideals. Honestly, I’ve seen many debase themselves just for those four years of classes. In these days when many try to hollow out every form of resistance, in these days when, as a friend said, it’s the season of shifting winds, and it seems many have forgotten what we’ve been through and what we’re going through, kudos to you for standing tall. Kudos to you for not trading your honor for a university degree. Kudos to you for studying and learning in prison. Because I think it doesn’t matter what ideas someone champions—standing firm is valuable in itself.
Here’s to hoping we meet soon, on the day of freedom,
Stand for Justice: Join the Fight for Freedom for Iranian Political Prisoners
The unwavering resistance of activists like Hasti Amiri and Ali Younesi reminds us that hope and defiance can thrive even in the darkest of times. Their stories underscore the urgent need for international solidarity.
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