Iranian asylum seeker calls for help

In a sunny September day in 2014, Homayoun Zaran, a self-proclaimed Iranian political dissident, fled Iran for Afghanistan expecting to ‘find a safe place to live.’ Homayoun, who plays setar, a musical instrument, says he found himself trapped in horns of serious dilemma as he crossed the border. In Afghan soil, the Afghan intelligence agencies arrested him on charges of espionage.

Having spent nearly a year in Afghan detention center in the western Herat province, Zaran was finally declared innocent by a court. Life was not easy for Zaran in Herat. He struggled to earn a living in country where unemployment was on the rise. His Esfahani accent, longhair and fashionable French cap made him marked as foreigner in the conservative city of Herat where some were teasing his accent and dressing style.