[3] Because of these oppositional political activities, she had to go in hiding for a few months at her aunt's home in Tehran when she was 17 years old; however, there was little she could do in daily life because she had to remain out of sight.

[3] Eventually she was able to persuade her father to let her celebrate Nowruz together in her parental home, but on the day of her arrival in 1982 she was arrested in her sleep, after which she was imprisoned for 1.5 years.

[4][3] Seighali was eventually released after her parents made a deal with the regime, in which they paid a heavy ransom, she was forced to marry and was henceforth banned from studying and working.

[3] In 1989, Rasul as cameraman secretly filmed an execution with the intention of smuggling the footage out of the country, but he was caught, had to immediately flee abroad, and ended up in the Netherlands.

[2] After 21 June 1990 Manjil–Rudbar earthquake hit Rasht, Rasul restored contact with Seighali via her aunt, revealed to her with a subtle hint that he was in the Netherlands, and gave her his phone number.

[2][3] After arriving in Breda, she applied for asylum, and first ended up in refugee camp AZC Blitterwijck near Venray; later she moved to Brummen and finally Almere.

[6] In 2019 Seighali won the Comeniusprijs, an award for "eye-catching commitment to the interests of training, education, science and culture for the development of international society".