Sarah Richmond one of the associate artists of Northern Ireland Opera Anne Hailes:
A terrified child scrambles ashore after a long and arduous escape
I CAN T use names because people are afraid to say anything that will threaten their families so I ll refer to her as J. She lived in Iran with her husband and 14-year-old son. They were a happy family but there was a problem, an unsurmountable problem. As a member of the gentle Baha i faith she lived in grave danger of persecution.
She worshiped privately but her neighbours found out and reported her. Before she could be imprisoned she was spirited out of the country and eventually, after a deeply distressing journey, she arrived in Northern Ireland.