Iranian Christian Woman Shares from Personal Experience with Forced Marriage and the Strong Grip of Oppression
WHAT: Lily Meschi, Director of Partners Relations for Iran Alive Ministries, is available to speak about the ongoing protests and turmoil in Iran over women’s rights and her own experiences as a Muslim-born Iranian woman.
Protests in Iran began in mid-September when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died after being arrested by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code. Women have played a leading role in the protests, with many publicly stripping off the compulsory Islamic headscarf, known as the hijab.
While the dress code is the most visible form of discrimination, it is just one aspect of the systemic discrimination that Iranian women face. Iranian women have unequal access to opportunities to shape their own lives. Every year in Iran, thousands of girls between the ages of 10 and 14 are forced to marry.
In several areas of Iranian women’s lives, including marriage, divorce, employment and culture, they are either restricted or need permission from their husbands or paternal guardians, depriving them of their autonomy and human dignity.
WHO: Lily Meschi is the Director of Partners Relations for Iran Alive Ministries, which utilizes satellite TV to broadcast Christian programming to a potential audience of 130 million in Iran and the Middle East. She is available to speak about her own experiences as an Iranian woman and to address the current protests for women’s rights.
Lily was born and raised in a Muslim family in Tehran, Iran. Forced to marry an older man at the age of 18, today she speaks on the corrupt practices of arranged marriages between young women and older men in the Middle East, amongst other abusive societal norms in Iran.
In ministering to the very culture from which she came, Lily’s prayer for each of the women in Iran is that they will come to know Jesus as she has and that they might experience true freedom, joy and life in abundance. For watch a short video of Lily’s testimony, please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaNtiL01Xh0.
WHEN/WHERE: Lily Meschi is available for interviews via phone, email or Zoom, and for in-person interviews in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS: Iran Alive reports that hopelessness and despair have caused the suicide rate and drug addictions to skyrocket in Iran. What Iran needs is not a political revolution, but a spiritual awakening and internal revolution to change the Islamic culture ingrained in that country for so long.
Now, at a time when many Iranians are fighting for their basic human rights and feeling cut off from the rest of the world, Iran Alive’s 24/7 broadcasts and 24/7 helpline for Iranians are serving as a lifeline. The ministry has an audience of an estimated 6 million daily viewers (and 20 million weekly viewers) of its satellite program in Iran, and great numbers of Iranians are turning to Christ during this tumultuous period.
About Iran Alive Ministries:
Iran Alive broadcasts a 24/7 Satellite channel into the Middle East and Central Asia with 130 million potential viewers. An independent survey has shown that it is the most watched Christian channel in Iran with 7.7% of the population (6 million) saying that “this is our favorite channel and we watch it daily.” In addition to broadcasting, Iran Alive has planted one of the largest underground church networks inside Iran. It has an online training school with over 2000 students being equipped to serve the Lord wherever they are. For more information, visit www.iranalive.org.
Information and updates on Iran Alive Ministry’s work can be accessed through this form. For more information on Iran Alive Ministries, text “Iran” to 85789.