Iranian protesters fled 'hell' at home, watch war from exile

"I literally saw hell," said the 34-year-old Iranian Kurd in Sulaimaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan's second city, as he showed AFP photos he took during recent anti-government protests of bodies lying on the bloodied ground. But his biggest worry today is for the safety of his family back home. With the internet under a blackout in Iran, Sheikhi said he relies on a friend who only occasionally manages to get online. "He calls my father and tells me how they are. That is the only way I get news of them," he said.