When one of Australia’s newest citizens, Mahdiyeh Razeghi, had a chance to get in the ear of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, she wasn’t going to squander the opportunity.
Moments after Albanese announced the 36-year-old’s name at an Australia Day citizenship ceremony in Canberra, the academic from Iran made a beeline for the prime minister.
She had prepared a letter containing 10 demands from women of the Iranian diaspora who have been pushing for democracy and women’s rights in a months-long wave of protests against the Islamic theocracy.
A government staffer told Razeghi they would hand the note to Albanese, who was busy greeting attendees after the official event. Razeghi insisted on speaking directly to him. She wanted to explain the plight of family in Iran not lucky enough to live in a country like Australia.
“He said, ‘I know that and I agree with what you say – I’m going to read the letter later’,” Razeghi, who goes by the name Maddie, said.
“This is the biggest platform that I have ever gotten since 16 September, 2022 when Mahsa Amini was murdered by morality police for not wearing the hijab properly.
“Since then we have been chanting ‘women, life, freedom’ because we believe we deserve a better life. We deserve a normal life. Like Australians here, look at them, they are enjoying their life without any oppression.”
Read the article by Paul Sakkal in The Sydney Morning Herald.