Sadjad Ramezan-Ali, 22 (to the right), and his brother Ehsan, 27, never shared the same tastes. The older one likes music: the tone ring of his cell phone is a tune by the great Iranian musician Shajarian, while that of the younger one rings to the call for prayer. Ehsan loves movies with Robert de Niro; Sadjad only watches Iranian war movies. Until June 12, 2009, both managed somehow to live together in the family home of Shar-e Rey, a conservative stronghold in the south of Tehran. They shared the same computer, on which each browsed for different websites. But on June 13, the younger brother, a member of the Basij Islamic militia, started to spend his days and nights clubbing his way through the “green marches” with the Guardians of the Revolution, who led the repression. Ehsan, the older brother, was in the streets as well, but on the side of the demonstrators. Here, they’re back together for an evening at a restaurant in Shar-e Rey, under the worrisome watch of their father, who desperately wants to maintain peace in the family and has to hide how much he hates President Ahmadinejad: “He has replaced thought by superstition and he has insulted the intelligence of the Iranian people,” he says.

Sadjad photographed near Enquelab Avenue. Two minutes later, a huge military convoy will force us to leave. The photo was taken during the repression of the green movement, in June 2009.

In a traditional restaurant in Shar-e Rey, a city south of Teheran, the carpet repairer Reza Ramezan-Ali, with his two very different sons Ehsan on the left and Sadjad on the right.

The authors with the Ramezan-Ali family, in a traditional restaurant in Shar-e Rey. On the right, Mehraneh, the author’s fixer.