Mahboubeh Bakhtiari, 33 years old, holds a degree in English translation and is a writer and human rights activist currently residing in Sweden. She, along with Mr. Randy Nobel, an American radio producer and human rights activist, is one of the authors of the book “Dear God, Please Bring Freedom to Iran”.

This book, titled “Dear God Bring Freedom to Iran” in English, is written in different sections that introduce the reader to the fate of many human rights activists imprisoned in Iran, such as Atena Daemi, Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee, and Nasrin Sotoudeh, religious activists like Fatemeh Mohammadi, social activists like Sholeh Pakravan, artists like Mehdi Rajabian, women’s rights activists, and survivors of the acid attack incident, such as Maria Rashidi, as well as one of the executed members of Kurdish political parties, Ramin Hossein Panahi.

Bakhtiari, in a conversation with the peace line, says about his book: “This book is the result of research and investigation into human rights violations in Iran, written by me and Randy Nobel, an American writer, radio producer, and human rights activist in Iran. In fact, the purpose of the book is to be the voice of the oppressed in Iran. The voice and cry of those who, unfortunately, have had their pens broken and their voices suppressed and have been subjected to widespread injustices by the government in Iran. The book is now available on Amazon’s website for Iranian and non-Iranian readers to be another document of what is happening in Iran today. Through specific cases of human rights violations in Iran, the book familiarizes Iranian and non-Iranian readers with the systematic and widespread oppression in Iran. These cases can be examples of fates that we are unaware of.”

At the beginning of the book, there are discussions about freedom and democracy for Iran. The purpose of these discussions is to describe the shared desire of Iranians for unity and solidarity with each other, achieving freedom and democracy, and restoring peace to the ancient land of Iran. In other parts of the book, there are also discussions about Iranian refugees, including the story of a young girl named Mania who fled Iran due to religious persecution and lack of religious freedom and is now seeking asylum in Scotland.

In the book, there is also a discussion about the freedom of hijab and support for girls on Enghelab Street, and in various discussions, this social issue has been addressed as a concern for many women and girls in Iranian society today.

The author of the book acknowledges the feedback received from the book in conversation with the peace line: “From English-speaking readers, the book has been praised and the injustices that have been made about the characters of our book have sometimes caused regret and empathy for some readers. From Persian-speaking audiences, there have also been criticisms of the book’s title, about which I will briefly say that “God” is the name of our book, a symbol of power, unity, and solidarity, and the pursuit of a goal and desire that is depicted on the cover of the book, where a young girl (myself) with her hands open in a free country, wishes this freedom for her people and her country.”

Book Name: Dear God, Please Bring Freedom to Iran

Author: Mahnoosh Bakhtiari and Rendi Nobel

Publication date: 2019