Lubna Mrie

And like in a way it was normalized.

Like there were girls in my school who got married in like eighth grade and ninth grade.

And these were like 14 years old girls.

No one questioned that.

No one said, OK, this girl still is not developed mentally to make this decision.

So the very first protest I joined, first of all, I was, I mean, I'm raised in a society that is so shielded from the realities of what's happening in the country.

So even though I was seeing protests online and kind of aware of what was going on,

I did not expect anything bad to come out of me going to the protest.

I actually stumbled upon the protest.

I was scrolling through Facebook.

I saw this announcement for a protest that was happening next hour.

And I just called a friend and I tell him, hey, let's go to this neighborhood.

I mean, I didn't say protest because, you know, I know like phone lines were monitored everywhere.

So I just mentioned the name of the neighborhood and my friend freaks out.

He's like, why are you saying this on the phone?

Because he knew that even if I just say the name of the neighborhood, whoever is listening or if anyone is listening, they will know we are going to a protest because it was a hotbed for anti-government protests at that time.

And I remember when I was getting dressed, I was thinking and I was like wondering, like, should we go for hookah after or should we go for lunch after?

Yeah.

And I'm like, OK.

And then I was like, oh, maybe we should actually eat lunch before because I get nauseous if I smoke hookah with that before eating lunch.