Sabeti Wain Aerospace has its roots in Tehran in the 1960s, with its founders Parviz and Mehrangiz Sabeti. After the Iranian revolution in 1979 and the new Ayatollahs regime Parviz, formerly of the Iranian Airforce, and Mehrangiz, who ran an independent school for young and teenage girls, decided that the only way forward was to start their own business in Tehran. This was in the form of a company specialising in the manufacture of Ladies and Children's clothes, and accessories such as soft furnishings and baby clothes.

​

Persecuted by the Ayatollah for their Bahá’í Faith, their factory was forced to close after only 2 years, further persecution was to follow as Parviz and Mehrangiz were accused of running a cell of Bahá’í activists plotting against the regime. Their factory was ransacked, their sewing machines were confiscated,all their money was taken, their house keys were taken and the house was sealed to prevent them from living there. With no money and nowhere to live they were forced to take refuge where they could, knowing that those that helped them were putting themselves in danger. Not only had they lost everything but they came under increased scrutiny by the revolutionary guard, meaning they could not communicate with anyone outside Iran or with their children in the UK, their mail was being intercepted and their phones were tapped.

​

In the summer of 1982, Parvis and Mehrangiz had been given a date for their court hearing and fearing being send to prison or execution went into hiding for 2 months, staying with a man who was responsible for helping many members of the Bahá’í Faith to leave the country and seek refuge. Backed by the money still owed to them by customers Parviz and Mehrangiz made plans to leave the country and find freedom in Pakistan.

​

After catching a bus to Zahedan and a long motorcycle journey they crossed the Pakistan boarder, spending their first night of freedom in a tent similar to those used by local tribesmen. Their onward travel took them to Karachi, where they were able to call their children Paymen and Mahnoush, who were studying in the UK, to let them know they had fled Iran and the escaped the Ayatollahs regime.

​

Parviz and Mehrangiz stayed in Karachi for six months. At the time it was home to thousands of refugees with poor living conditions,considerable overcrowding and serious health risks. While in Karachi, Parviz and Mehrangiz helped to provide food for many refugees who had left Iran. Many of those were were young people on their own who were singled out and refused access to education due to their religious beliefs. Many fled Iran to avoid conscription into the armed forces to go to war against Iraq.  The persecution was highlighted in the entire national Bahá’í council being executed, the second council elected met the same fate, family members were told if they wanted the bodies to be released for burial they would need to pay for the bullets that killed them.

​

Having left Iran, Parvis and Mehrangiz's priority now was to try and get to the UK to be with their children. After their first attempt was unsuccessful due to refugee quotas, their daughter Mahnoush wrote to her local MP, Ray Whitney,appealing for help in their bid to get the immigration authorised to allow her parents to stay in the UK.

​

Parvis and Mehrangiz were given permission to settle in the UK in 1982, and later that year the British Embassy supplied them with the travel documents they needed to catch a plane to London.

​

​