From Tehran to St. John's: An Iranian dissident's harrowing 6-month journey to safety

Iranian human rights activist Atena Daemi didn't want to leave her native country — even after spending six years in prison and being subjected to physical and psychological torture.

But in 2022, her multiple sclerosis (MS) had advanced to such a degree that her physician told her she needed to seek medical care abroad.

"I never thought about leaving Iran, even through my darkest days of imprisonment," said Daemi, 35, in a recent interview with CBC. "I wouldn't have left, if it wasn't for my MS."

And so she undertook a perilous and unpredictable six-month journey that took her from Tehran to St. John's.

Daemi's decision to leave Iran came amid one of the Islamic Republic's most violent crackdowns on anti-regime protests. From September 2022 into 2023, security forces killed more than 500 people and arrested over 20,000 — actions the UN has called "crimes against humanity."

Daemi had grappled with early symptoms of MS while in prison, but was denied medical care. By the time she was released in January 2022, the untreated illness had left her right leg completely numb, hindering her mobility.

Confronted with a two-year travel ban as part of her prison sentence, Daemi made the decision to leave the country illegally.

But Daemi was adamant about not leaving her older sister Ensieh behind. Ensieh had been targeted by authorities for her activism and advocacy on Atena's behalf. Aware of the high probability that Ensieh would be imprisoned if authorities found out about Atena's escape, the siblings made the decision to flee together.

Atena Daemi turned to Front Line Defenders, an Irish NGO, who told her she and her sister qualified for Canada's resettlement program.

Without special measures for refugees to resettle in Canada directly from Iran, Daemi says the NGO urged her to flee to Turkey by May 2023, before that country's presidential election, a time when security measures at the border were expected to be intensified.

When CBC contacted Front Line Defenders for more details, the organization said it "can't get into any specifics about the process in individual cases — the details are confidential to ensure the security of the defenders we work to support, particularly those at high risk."

Mapping Daemi's journey:

While in hiding, Daemi struggled to find a smuggler to Turkey.

Eager to leave quickly, she found smugglers to take her to Iraq instead. The Iran-Iraq border, a dangerous route for "porters," is closely watched by Iranian security forces, who shoot and kill those attempting to cross.