The joy of being reunited after fleeing Iran
ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM, REPORTER: As bombs were falling over Tehran, Arifa Hakimi's heart was breaking.
ARIFA HAKIMI: Very stressful time. I couldn't work; I couldn't concentrate. My main focus was just what is happening, what is going on now in Tehran, in Iran.
ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: Nas Rezayee, Arifa's fiancé, had been living in Tehran for four years. Last month, he was caught up in the war that erupted between Israel and Iran.
ARIFA HAKIMI: Eventually after nearly 18 hours, I got a very small text message in WhatsApp that he said that 'I'm okay, but I don't have a very good internet connection and there is like a very bad situation going on.'
ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: The bombing campaign against Iran lasted 12 days. Nas filmed the attacks which were close to where he lived. He sent these videos to Arifa.
ARIFA HAKIMI: He said that during the night it's very hard to go to sleep and because all the missiles and the bombings were mostly happening during the night and the situation was very terrifying.
ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: Arifa and Nas are from Afghanistan; they met in 2019 at a military university in Kabul. She was studying computer science, and he was finishing a Bachelor of Civil Engineering.
ARIFA HAKIMI: He asked me if I'm okay, he wants to spend the rest of his life with me. And then I said, 'Let me think about that and then I'll let you know.' So, it didn't take much time.
ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: After two years of being inseparable, the pair were torn apart in August 2021, when the Taliban took over - both Arifa and Nas fled the country.
ARIFA HAKIMI: Our lives were in danger, and we tried to get an Australian visa, but that time I got the visa to come to Australia, but he didn't get the visa. So that was the problem, the main issue that we get separated from each other.
ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: Former Premier of New South Wales Kristina Kenneally helped Arifa get an Australian visa when she escaped Afghanistan. Earlier this year she saw her again at a refugee event in Melbourne.
KRISTINA KENEALLY, FORMER NSW PREMIER: Through snatches of conversation at this reception, she told me about the danger that Nas was in, that he had been waiting to get his spouse visa. He was in Iran, he was working, and yet Tehran was being bombed.
ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: She was so touched by Arifa's plight to bring Nas here, she offered to help.
KRISTINA KENEALLY: I'd reached out to some staff I knew working in Canberra just to ensure that the visa application was complete and could go forward for processing.
Once it was assessed, it was approved, such relief. I remember the message I got from Arifa. She had received an email from the department saying it had been approved. She was at the gym.
ARIFA HAKIMI: I just stopped the treadmill and then go and sit, went and sit on the bench, and then I was not expecting that, but my hands was shaking. I was very excited.
ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: Nas flew out of Tehran just days after hostilities ceased between Iran and Israel.
ARIFA HAKIMI: Oh my god. Welcome, how are you.
It was very hard, we faced many challenges, and hardships, but it had happened, finally we got a good result which is very good.
NAS REZAYEE: It's wonderful to see my partner here in Melbourne…
ARIFA HAKIMI: After a long time.
NAS REZAYEE: After four years.
ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: Nas, welcome to Australia.
NAS REZAYEE: Thank you so much.
ARIFA HAKIMI: How are you feeling?
NAS REZAYEE: I'm feeling good. Very good. I like Melbourne. It's a good city. Nice people and good environment and lovely beach.
I think it's incredible and very, very, very good that I have Arifa and reunited.
ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: While relieved to be with Arifa, Nas is still haunted by his final days in Iran.
NAS REZAYEE: After seven o'clock in the evening the bombing and missiles were starting, and we were waiting to die and just hiding to find a very safe place and apartment because my journey was not finished.
ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: When you think about what people are going through back there, how do you feel right now?
NAS REZAYEE: It's really, really, really good to have people helping me here in Australia and it's really interesting that people is always be smiling and just helping each other.
ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: Arifa is in her third year at Deakin University studying exercise and sports science. Nas was a personal trainer in Tehran. He wants to work as a civil engineer in Australia.
NAS REZAYEE: I have a plan to study but in the first time I should stabilise my situation condition in Melbourne.
ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: Six years after they first met in Kabul, Nas and Arifa can finally begin their life together in Melbourne. They have big plans for later this year.
ARIFA HAKIMI: Summer wedding, of course the weather that time is so good. We don't have the exact plan, which location, where, but we are in thinking of that
ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: In Australia?
ARIFA HAKIMI: Of course, in Australia.
ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: In Melbourne?
ARIFA HAKIMI: Yes.
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