Yasaman Bagheri is an Iranian-born writer, former refugee, community advocate and Law and Criminal Justice student based in Ōtautahi Christchurch, New Zealand.

Yasaman’s journey has been shaped by displacement, resistance and a determination to reclaim her future. In 2013, at the age of 15, she left Iran with her family after experiencing religious and political persecution. Seeking safety in Australia, they arrived by boat, but Yasaman then spent much of her adolescence within Australia’s detention system. Over approximately five years, she was held across Christmas Island, Darwin and the offshore detention regime on Nauru.

Those years placed enormous barriers between Yasaman and the ordinary ambitions of a teenage girl. Her freedom, education and ability to plan for her future were restricted. During her time on Nauru, she began finding ways to make her voice heard. She communicated with journalists and advocates outside the island, shared accounts of life inside detention, and began using writing and poetry as forms of expression and resistance.

In 2018, Yasaman was medically evacuated from Nauru to Australia. Her writing later became part of literary and advocacy projects amplifying the experiences of refugees, women and people affected by forced displacement.

Today, Yasaman is rebuilding the opportunities that were interrupted during her adolescence. She studies Law and Criminal Justice and works as a restorative justice facilitator in Christchurch. She is involved in refugee and ethnic community advocacy as a youth leader and mentor, participates in initiatives supporting meaningful refugee participation, and serves in community governance.

Her journey from a teenage girl forced to leave Iran, through offshore detention, to studying law and helping others navigate systems of justice reflects a continuing belief in resistance, dignity and the ability of women and girls to shape their own futures.

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Setayesh Golshani was three years old when persecution forced her family to leave Iran. A year later, she arrived in Australia with her parents by ship and was transferred to the offshore asylum processing centre on Nauru.

She spent more than two years in detention before being released into community detention in Brisbane.

As she grew older, Setayesh found strength through taekwondo. The sport became her refuge — a place where she could focus, compete and begin to imagine a future of her own. By sixteen, she had become a multi-award-winning athlete.

But the uncertainty of her childhood continues to shape her life. Her immigration status limits her opportunities to compete internationally, study and build a secure future in Australia. Although she was recognized as a refugee in 2019, her status remains unresolved.

Setayesh continues to advocate for the chance to remain in Australia, where she has grown up and built her life. She also fears returning to Iran, where she says she could face persecution as a young woman and apostate.

Her journey is one of a girl who has faced extraordinary challenges and refused to let them define her. Through taekwondo, she has found strength, purpose and a voice of her own.

Now, she is fighting for the opportunity to turn that hard-won strength into a future.

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