Leyla Cries By Day, And Shouts From The Rooftop By Night

Tonight, as she has every night since Iran's disputed election, Leyla will walk up to the rooftop of her apartment building in Tehran and join the collective shouts of "Allahu Akbar" ("God is great").

Her protest is not confined to the roof of her building. Leyla, who has never been politically active before, has attended all the Tehran street rallies to protest against the alleged fraudulent results of the presidential election which saw Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad returned to power.

"I have gone every day and I have cried every day," she says.

The protests initially saw hundreds of thousands take to the streets demanding a recount. But as the violence has escalated and with the security forces very visibly present in main squares and crossroads, the protests have shrunk - some rallies this week numbered in the hundreds, say witnesses.

"Of course I'm scared of being injured or killed," she says. "When I water my plants these days I cannot help crying because I feel how much I love to live. But I'm also fed up with this feeling of fear that has penetrated my soul for three decades under this regime."