They attacked my house and they confiscated it,
I was going to turn my house into a museum of peace,
displaying the medallions, the awards that I have received.
Unfortunately that didn't happen, as they took it and sold it off.
I had an office, an NGO, that I had bought with the award,
a financial award that I received by Nobel Prize, part of it.
That was again taken away from me.
It is as if they were going to wipe my winning of the award
from the memory of the history of Iran,
but I know they have not been able to do that,
I am in contact with many people in Iran,
I know that people have not forgotten about the prize.
They still collaborate with me and cooperate with me.
In the path that I took, which was democracy and human rights,
I faced many challenges.
I have been imprisoned, all of my property has been confiscated
and auctioned off. My husband and my sister were taken into prison
because of my activities.
My NGO and my law office were closed down,
I had to leave the country and live in exile,
without wanting to do so.
This is very difficult, this is not an easy path that I have taken,
but I know that dictators will leave one day
and that democracy will take over and human rights will be observed
for the people of the country.
I believe in the path that I have taken
and I accept all the challenges, which are not easy.
When the dictators leave, if the civil society is not strong
and is not formed, then there will be a gap,
in that gap always we see conflicts and we may even see civil wars.
I have to say that I do not agree with the phrase 'the Arab Spring',
I prefer to call it an uprising of the people.
The uprising of the people is due to their awareness.
Fear is an instinct, it's like hunger,
when you become hungry, then you are hungry.
If you are faced with a dangerous issue,
whether you want it or not, it's not a matter of will,
but you will get scared.
The meaning of democracy is not for citizens to just vote and go home,
sleep and wait for the second election to come up.
Democracy needs the continuous supervision of the people.
People who voted should monitor their government continuously,
so that governments do not take wrong steps.
It's like a flower that you buy and bring to your house or flat,
that you have to water and put in the light that it deserves,
so that it can continue to survive.
If you leave that flower there or water it on one day
and forget about it,
and leave it there for a month, it is going to die, certainly.
With democracy it's the same thing, you can't ignore it.