Azadeh Agah

Azadeh Agah was born in Iran into a politically active family. Very early in life she learned about totalitarianism and oppression. Azadeh witnessed the harassment and imprisonment of members of her extended family and heard amazing stories of courage and resistance from listening to their conversations. By the time she reached high school, she was already an advocate of women’s emancipation and human rights.

After finishing secondary school, Azadeh began studying sociology, with a side interest in politics. She was active in student protests in opposition to the dictatorial regime of the Shah and was harassed, questioned and temporarily detained as a consequence. At the same time, she finished her undergraduate studies and worked in a private institution before going to graduate school and receiving an advanced degree in women’s studies and politics.

Upon graduation, Azadeh Agah began teaching at the university, and taught until the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Optimism turned into despair when the post-revolutionary regime brought no change for the better and women’s rights became even more restricted. Azadeh continued advocating on democracy and human rights issues up to the time of her arrest in 1982.

Azadeh spent four years in the Islamic Republic’s prison system, going from one jail to the next, observing and experiencing the conditions described in We Lived to Tell.

Currently, Azadeh Agah is married with two children and lives outside Iran. She is still active promoting human rights issues in general and the rights of political prisoners in particular.