Inside Iran: when leaving is the only solution

The tenth report of a series by Al Arabiya News Channel examines why many Iranians have fled their homeland, as part of a special series tackling political, social and economic issues in the Islamic Republic.

Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, many politicians, intellectuals, youth and ethnic groups have had to escape to avoid detention, persecution or execution for being suspected opponents of the Iranian regime.

Many members of minorities such as Armenians and Jews decided to leave and not return out of fear of persecution, and many socialists and liberals left after their freedoms of thought and expression were restrained.

The report says that an estimated 5 million Iranians live abroad, with political asylum requests exceeding the tens of thousands, it added.