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Married at 13, Activist Educates About Women in Iran

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By: Reign C, Xavier D

 

Anni Cyrus was forced into marriage as a child in Iran. Through Live Up To Freedom she educates others to rescue girls and women like herself.

Iranian-born Anni Cyrus was married at 13 to a complete stranger in his middle 30s. When she didn’t do what he wanted her to, he beat her. Cyrus escaped to Turkey when she was 15 and made her way to the U.S. three years later. Now a U.S. citizen and human rights activist, she is speaking and writing to raise awareness and to help other girls and women like her.

Cyrus spoke recently at a private home, praising the Iranian women now involved in the uprising against the oppressive regime in her native land. She paid tribute to those who “bravely hold their hijabs on sticks and risk prison or death.” By speaking out against the regime, Cyrus, too, has risked death. A fatwa, a death sentence imposed by Muslim religious leaders, has been imposed on her. She moves frequently and speaks under heavy security.

Cyrus is in touch with the resistance in Iran and started her organization, Live Up To Freedom, in 2006 to facilitate rescues. Because of threats to her life, Cyrus spreads the word about her experiences and her goals mostly through social media, radio shows and small group meetings with heavy security. “Girls and women in Iran are trapped,” said Cyrus. “You have to obey the Koran, and the Koran says that your husband has the right to beat you. Right now in Iran there are no radicals, no reformers. All major Islamic organizations want me dead.” The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) tries to deny her venues to speak. The organization was unsuccessful in their attempts to shut down her recent appearance at an American Legion post in Newton.

“People need to be educated. And they need to get united. Those who seek to Islamize the U.S. know how to divide and conquer,” said Cyrus. “I believe that I went through what I did so that I can contribute to this education. The only way they can shut me up is to shoot me.”

“When I was celebrating my 16 th birthday alone in Turkey, I thought, does anyone know I’m here?” she continued. “If I died tomorrow, who would know? I decided to make myself a gift by vowing to be that person for others.”

Cyrus’s experiences and her efforts to help other women are chronicled in numerous articles and videos on her website: liveuptofreedom.com

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