then charged with “propaganda against the Islamic Republic” among other charges and interrogated blindfold, in solitary confinement, for security reasons.

This is how his profile opens on the well-known traveler platform, Couchsurfing.

I had heard about Reza during my first trip to Iran in 2018. People are very hospitable in Iran and this country is one of the essential destinations for travel lovers. The millenary culture, the echoes of a great empire, then the Islamic Revolution, the American regulations and all the anti-Iranian propaganda that is heard in the West … Iran is a country full of contradictions, a theocracy incomprehensible from the outside, but it is also a country rich in history, culture, architecture and fantastic people. Here’s what Reza did, he was hospitable, in line with the natural tendency of her people, but he didn’t do it secretly.

My curiosity for Iran stems from the fact that, on the one hand, the media want to show it to us as a monolith dressed in black, on the other there are the testimonies of the travelers and the Iranians living in the West, that just make you wanting to go. While in Iran, I met a people who live in a thousand restrictions, often in a state of depression, almost hopeless for the future. However, the very same people open to you the door of their home and smile, put fruits and sweets on the table, prepare tea, make you sit on beautiful carpets and feel at home. Iran is an “intimate” country, given that public life is so difficult.

Peace Gulf

Trying to simplify the complexity of Iranian society is an illusion and is not the purpose of these lines, but while most Iranians see the only hope in leaving the country, there is someone who is convinced to stay no matter what, that he will continue to make his voice heard despite the difficulties, that Iranian hospitality should not go down due to intimidation and politics. This is Reza, more commonly known by the name of “Peace Gulf”.

“Peace Gulf” because Reza has the dream that the Persian Gulf – as the Iranians call it – or the Arabian Gulf – as for the Arabs – becomes a gulf of peace, a bridge between these two worlds. Reza feels like a citizen of the world, a humanist, a feminist, a pacifist. In 2011 the Kayyam Night project started. Initially it was a weekly meeting, then it merged into the Kayyam House, a hospitality place for those travelers who were to cross Iran, but also for the Iranians themselves. A place of peace, full of colors, people, celebrations.

Reza’s philosophy is:

1- Do not have more than you need. Give more than is expected.

2- Be hospitable in a way that always allows you to be!

3- Na Eslaam, Na Iran, Jaanam Fadaaye Ensaan! (Not for Iran, nor for Islam, I will die for humans!).

Prison and Coronavirus

Reza and I never got to know each other in person, but we are in contact via Instagram. At the end of my first trip, I told him that his fame preceded him – more Iranians had told me about him – and that I would have liked to meet him on the next trip. A few days later I received a video, I didn’t understand what it was because it was in Farsi. I asked him for explanations, but I never received an answer. A week ago, I got a message from his account.

– I was in prison.

In August 2016, after being arrested and charged, he was released on bail on September 7th. I did not understand, however, that in 2017 he had been put on trial and sentenced to one year of prison. That sentence was later confirmed by the appeal court, which led him to Evin prison, the one where political prisoner are locked up.

– Did you get out of prison? I asked him.

– Yes, because of Coronavirus, in a month I have to come back.

The Iranian government is emptying prisons to try to limit the number of infections and release “less dangerous” prisoners. So, Reza is free again and replies to my message on Instagram.

Did Peace Gulf break the law?