From protester to fighter: Fleeing Iran’s brutal crackdown to take up arms over the border
MUSLIM youth carry a flag during a protest with a portrait of the late Iranian Shiite cleric Khatami (C) outside Tehran Friday, June 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Ayad Faghihi was working in the fields near the town of Muchemeh, in northern Iraq, where he had been born and raised until 2004.
He left Muchemeh and returned to Iran with his mother at the age of 24.
Ayad Faghihi was working in the fields near the town of Muchemeh, in northern Iraq, where he had been born and raised until 2004.He left Muchemeh and returned to Iran with his mother at the age of 24.
“I was a housepainter, I made the houses beautiful for the rich people who came here,” the 28-year-old said. “I didn’t want to stay in Iran.”
He returned to Iraq in 2004 to help in a small group of volunteers trying to prevent the government from demolishing the houses of Sunni residents.
His older brother and fellow volunteers, Assem Faghihi, also 27, said he was an Iraqi national until 2005. But Faghihi didn’t know his citizenship status.
Ayad Faghihi was working in the fields near the town of Muchemeh, in northern Iraq, where he had been born and raised until 2004.He left Muchemeh and returned to Iran with his mother at the age of 24.”I was a housepainter, I made the houses beautiful for the rich people who came here,” the 28-year-old said. “I didn’t want to stay in Iran.”He returned to Iraq in 2004 to help in a small group of volunteers trying to prevent the government from demolishing the houses of Sunni residents.”I was an Iraqi national until 2005. But Faghihi didn’t know his citizenship status.”
Assem Faghihi said he did not know from whom he came; he had to sign up in person at the Interior Ministry in Tehran. Then, on Oct. 1, he said he was offered a place in the Iraqi army