Today, we hear from a mother and son in Iran about life amid ongoing protests and an escalating government crackdown. Despite communication challenges, journalist Sanam Mahoozi has been carefully corresponding with them for weeks about their lives in a changing Iran.

“I am devastated by the way the system is treating the youth,” a mother in Tehran told journalist Sanam Mahoozi during one exchange. “Every mother in Iran is miserable now.”

Protests erupted across Iran following the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s “morality police,” and they show few signs of abating. For one mother and son in Tehran, this has meant life interrupted, halted and increasingly in jeopardy, as safety concerns inch closer to home. But it has also increased their resolve.

The government has responded harshly to the uprising, with human rights organizations documenting more than 4,000 deaths. Officials have sentenced at least a dozen protesters to death. Over the weekend, one of those protesters, convicted of killing two officers, was publicly hanged from a construction crane.

Even with all the crackdowns and violence around him, the son told Mahoozi, “I have more hope than before.” 

READ MORE: 

‘We want them gone’: Across generations, Iranians struggle for change.

As unrest grips Iran’s schools, the government is going after children.

Iran is ramping up its secret kidnapping plots.