I fled for my life at 16 to escape the Iranian regime
Life Changing
BBC
4.6 • 804 Ratings
🗓️ 6 May 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In an interview recorded before the recent conflict between Israel, the USA and Iran, but after the reprisals following the public protests against the Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr Sian Williams talks to 19 year-old Rozhan about her flight from Tehran and subsequent journey to the UK.
At just 16, Rozhan's life changed forever when the Iranian authorities discovered that her mother was attending an underground Christian church – and her immediate family felt they had no choice but to flee for their lives.
Rozhan tells Dr Sian Williams about the heartbreak of abandoning her old life, and her terrifying journey across Europe - which almost ended in disaster aboard a terrifying small boat.
Rozhan, her sister and mother have now been granted leave to remain in the UK, and like any teenager, she is trying to pass her exams and build a new life in a land that has given her life and freedom. But the agony of watching those she has left behind, both family and friends, remains.
Producer: Tom Alban
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're about to listen to the latest series of Life-Changing. |
| 0:04.1 | Episodes will be released weekly wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:09.1 | But if you can't wait, you can listen to the latest episodes a whole month earlier than anywhere else. |
| 0:15.5 | First, on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:18.5 | Hello and welcome to the series that hears from extraordinary people who've experienced a moment which has shaped the rest of their lives. Today, a refugee who arrived on a small boat. And I wonder what picture you have in your mind when I say those words, what story you expect. Let me give you an image which |
| 0:39.5 | might help. It's of a 16-year-old girl. She's in a crowded vessel, holding a baby, which is not |
| 0:46.1 | her own, trying to keep them safe as the waves threatened to overwhelm. Her mother and her younger |
| 0:52.5 | sister are also on board. |
| 0:55.1 | They fled from Iran, not knowing where they're going or if they'll get there. |
| 1:00.0 | But at the heart of this story are the events in Tehran that compelled her family to make that journey. |
| 1:07.2 | A journey that ended eventually with them being told they could stay in the UK. |
| 1:12.9 | That young girl is now 19 and her name is Rajan Hamapur. |
| 1:18.0 | Rajan, welcome to the programme. |
| 1:19.9 | It's nice to be here. Thank you for having me. |
| 1:22.4 | You came here four years ago and you'll be aware of the debate about boat crossings. |
| 1:29.2 | But I want to get a sense of what you left behind. |
| 1:32.6 | Take us back to your life as a child in Iran. |
| 1:35.1 | What was school like? |
| 1:37.0 | What was it like being with your family? |
| 1:38.9 | Life in Iran was good, sometimes even great, but never normal or ordinary. We could feel the government |
| 1:47.0 | present every day in our life. What my mom always taught me was so much different than what the |
| 1:55.3 | word outside looked like. And they were trying to tell me. For example, in a school, their fear of questioning things |
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