Utkarsh NarangFounder, IgnitedNeurons · Your best doers become your worst managers as you scale. I turn them into leaders so your best people don’t leave.

How regime control steals childhood from Iranian teens #Iran #Politics #Freedom

10 Mar 2026 · 2 min

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In this personal testimony, the speaker laments the loss of freedom and childhood for Iranian youth under the current regime. They recount the execution of a thirteen‑year‑old girl, Tamamespa, and her entire family in 1981, linking her death to the 1979 revolution and the regime’s ongoing repression of children and teenagers. The speaker reflects on how growing up amid such violence forces young Iranians to mature rapidly, rejecting the notion that they are merely children. They emphasize the importance of giving a voice to the younger generation, who continue to stand up for change despite the threat of lethal reprisals.

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Iran, it's like, shouldn't have a smile either. Unfortunately, in this country right now that this ruler is ruling, kids our age, they're not able to be free like we are and go and play and do everything that we want to do. They don't have those rights. So it's really important to be their voice. Generation after generation, they're standing and they want to bring change. Unfortunately, in the recent uprisings, when you look at the list of teenagers and children who've been killed, are in their You know, early twenties or younger. Tamamespa. She was a thirteen-year-old girl who was executed by the regime at the age of thirteen. I always thought, how much does a thirteen-year-old know about politics to be executed based on that? She was someone who was very informed because she was she was like ten at the time of the revolution, and so she grew up with the revolution in 1979. But in 1981, she was executed along with her parents. And her siblings. That entire family was wiped out, every member of their family executed. To this day, their family stands as a symbol for the people of Iran. So I always thought, based on what were they executed? There was a time that, you know, people are like, oh, you guys are kids. And I was like, well, are we really just kids? Because people at our age are being killed in our country. And so we understand. I thought like, well, I'm sorry, I understand more than maybe a lot of adults. Because of the circumstances that I grew up in, I can't say I'm just a child. I'm not just a child anymore because I understand these complex situations.