Share This Episode
Listen Here
What does it take to escape a regime that wants to erase you? In this deeply moving episode, Barry Shore sits down with Nizam Missaghi, a Baha'i-born Iranian American who was smuggled across the mountains into Turkey as a young man — simply because his faith denied him the right to a passport, an education, and a future in his own country.
Nizam walks us through what life looked like growing up in the Islamic Republic of Iran as a member of the Baha'i faith — a minority religion that stands for the equality of men and women, the unity of all religions, and universal peace. His mother, a pediatrician, was fired from her hospital. His father, an engineer, lost his job. And when Nizam finished high school, Iranian universities were entirely closed to him by government order. Freedom wasn't just a dream — it was something he had to physically risk his life to reach.
Born in the United States while his parents completed their studies here in the 1970s, Nizam held an American passport he could not legally use inside Iran. His only path out was a human smuggler known only as "Uncle," contacted by word of mouth, paid in cash, and reached only by pay phone. Fifteen people crossed the mountains together at dusk — and Nizam's father sent him off with nothing more than a quiet pat on the back and the words, "God be with you."
This is a story about purpose-driven living, the power of faith under pressure, and what it means to truly build a life from nothing. Nizam Missaghi is a practicing anesthesiologist based in Phoenix, Arizona, and the author of Passport to Freedom, a memoir detailing his journey from persecution to purpose.
Show Notes:
- 00:00 - Welcome and Barry Shore's Story of Resilience
- 03:30 - Introducing Nizam Missaghi and His Journey
- 07:00 - The Islamic Republic: 47 Years of Oppression
- 13:00 - Iran's Young Generation and Acts of Disobedience
- 19:00 - The Baha'i Faith and Why It Is Persecuted
- 26:00 - Growing Up Baha'i: Education Denied, Family Dismissed
- 33:00 - The American Passport That Could Not Set Him Free
- 39:00 - Finding the Smuggler and Planning the Escape
- 46:00 - Crossing the Mountains Into Turkey at Dawn
- 52:00 - From Refugee to Doctor: Building a Life of Purpose
Important Links:
About Nizam Missaghi
Author of PASSPORT TO FREEDOM, Nizam Missaghi, M.D., is an Iranian-American physician. He left his native Iran after the completion of high school due to being deprived of access to higher education as a religious minority in the Islamic Republic. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Virginia and pursued his medical education at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.
After completion of his residency in anesthesiology, he moved to the Phoenix metro area, where he is a founding member of Grand Canyon Anesthesia and a clinical assistant professor of anesthesiology at the University of Arizona School of Medicine and Midwestern University.
He currently serves as the chairman of the board for Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, where human rights abuses in the Islamic Republic are investigated, verified, and documented. He is the author of multiple articles in Persian and English that focus on human rights and Iran-related matters. He has given multiple presentations about social psychology and human behavior. He is also the founder of The Simpatico Foundation, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Arizona that promotes diversity and the arts
