top of page
Writer's pictureLoabat

I am Benita Kiani

I survived, but I was blinded in one eye! On November 24, 1401. I was exactly 5 years and 10 months old, born in February 2015. I

I was an only child and a resident of Flowerjan in Isfahan province. Nationwide protests started after Mehsa Amini was killed. It was the night of November 24, 1401. My uncle and I were invited to dinner at my grandfather's and grandmother's house in Isfahan city. My grandfather's house was on the third floor of a building in an alley. I was happy and smiling playing with my cousin who was 9 years old. My grandmother always told us not to go to the balcony, she had drawn the curtains and closed the balcony door. The voices of protesting people are coming from the alley, my cousin went and opened the balcony door to see what was going on, I followed him. My mom ran from there to prevent us from leaving. Before we left, there was no gunshots and we could only hear people's voices, but suddenly, when I went to the balcony, repressive agents shot at me from below with a shotgun and all the windows were broken. Breaking the house, more than 20 bullets hit my head, face, nose, and ear, one of the bullets was shot directly into my right eye and I ran into the house and just screamed, I was burned, I was burned... They took me to the hospital, the doctor there said that one of the bullets entered directly through the nostril and hit the back of the retina, and one went into the skull and that these are very dangerous and cannot be brought into them. In the first hours, my eye was bleeding so much that the doctors couldn't do anything, they just bandaged it and said that the bleeding should decrease so that they could examine us and send us home. After a few days, I got a fever and we went to the hospital again. I was under observation for a while, but they couldn't do anything for me and said that I should have surgery to remove the bullet from my right eye and drain the blood. Of course, my eyesight was completely lost and they just wanted to try to keep at least thirty percent of the beauty of my eyes. The first surgery was performed, but it was not successful because the bullet was deeply embedded in the bottom of my eye and could not be touched unless my eye was completely drained. My doctor said that the bullet in my right eye entered through the cornea and caused a tear in its entire thickness, and there are at least 12 bullets in the right side of my head, two of which are visible around the eye. One of them stuck to my eye and the other one passed through the cornea and tore the lens of my eye. It was placed in the back part of the eye near the bone under the retina and attached to the sclera. In fact, the bullet caused my retina to detach. Now the vision of my right eye is only to the extent of detecting the movement of his hand and the pupil does not show any reaction to the light, and the vision of my left eye is ten to eight. They put me on strong antibiotics to prevent inflammation and infection. From that day on, I get a severe headache and my eye hurts a lot, my left eye is swollen and I can't open it... I have to have several surgeries on my eye, but there is no hope of seeing.... They don't touch my face until it solves a problem.

In two months, I was supposed to see my sixth birthday with my own two eyes, but they didn't let me...

What was my sin?? I will never be able to see the world with my two eyes again... and these bullets will remain in my head and face for the rest of my life...

My father and mother's life has become hot and depressed, the security forces don't let them rest and are constantly threatening...

Don't forget me and remember...

bottom of page