New York City, United States – Roughly 12,200 kilometres, or 7,600 miles, separate businessman and activist Roozbeh Farahanipour from his native Iran. But even that distance is not enough for the 54-year-old to feel completely safe.Since 2000, Farahanipour has lived in exile in the United States, having fled a death sentence in Iran. He left behind Marz-e Por Gohar, the Iranian opposition party he founded.But escaping Iran has not meant he escaped the threats he faced. After resettling in the Los Angeles area, Farahanipour remembers there was one seven-month period when it seemed like his car tyres were slashed every few weeks.Then there was another incident in 2022, when he called on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to condemn Iran’s violent crackdown on protesters.Farahanipour later learned that, during his testimony, gunfire had shattered the door of one of his restaurants, the Persian Gulf cafe. He suspects both cases had to do with his activism.”You can sleep with one eye open, one eye closed, and you feel like you are not safe,” Farahanipour said. But, he added, it’s the same in Iran. “That’s 90 million people in Iran [who are] not safe.”Still, Iranian dissidents in the US are facing new uncertainties since the country joined Israel in a war aga …
