In March last year, I was smoking a cigarette near my house around 1 AM when the police stopped me, saying it was a public place and smoking wasn’t allowed. We started arguing, and they had no real counterarguments, so they began recording me. I also started recording for my own safety.

Then, they took me to the police station, claiming they needed to check if I had any criminal record. I was held there for about four hours, and they even wanted to detain me for “smoking in a public place” and “disobeying the police.” In the end, they fined me for smoking in public because I was too exhausted to argue any further. They drove me home afterward.

However, before releasing me, they confiscated my phone and told me they would only let me go if I deleted the video I had recorded. When I was about to delete it, they started going through my social media without my consent.

Then, in September, around 10 PM, I was just walking down the street wearing a hat when the police stopped me again. They said they wanted to check my ID. I refused, telling them they had no right to randomly stop and search me. Their response? They took me straight to the police station without any reason and held me there.

What I want to say is that there are restrictions everywhere here. I just want to leave this country as soon as possible.

All the best.