The following report is the account of one of the individuals wounded during the January protests. He is a 16-year-old laborer whose arm was targeted by repressive forces on January 18. His right arm is no longer functional. The teenager’s true identity is being withheld by IranWire. To ensure his safety, the pseudonym “Ramin” has been used throughout this report.
He wanted to study, but financial hardship forced him to start working at the age of 13. He admitted that he was not particularly fond of studying, but he tried his best to achieve something through education and rescue his family from their dire situation. He believed that the minimum benefit of schooling would be securing a respectable job in society and making his family proud, but it was not to be. His father’s income was insufficient, forcing Ramin into the labor market. For a while, he worked as an errand boy for shopkeepers in the iron market, but due to his small frame and the heavy nature of the work, he could not sustain it and moved from the iron market to the Grand Bazaar. One of his aspirations was to work until he turned 18, save money, and purchase the dirt bike displayed in the window of his uncle-in-law’s motorcycle shop. Yet, as he put it, no matter how hard he ran, household expenses and the economic situation never allowed him to save enough for the motorcycle.
