In September, multiple media outlets reported that Mahsa Amini died in morality police custody in Iran after being arrested for wearing her hijab “improperly.”
The death of the 22-year-old sparked protests worldwide. Fresno State and the Fresno community have taken a stand along with many protesters in Iran.
Since Amini’s death, over 14,000 Iranian protesters have been arrested and nearly 300 killed, including children, according to Fox 5 San Diego news anchor Shally Zomorodi.
“The only principle that [the Iranian regime] have is not about Iran, is not about Islam, [but is about] purely power. And they’re just like a cartel. There’s no loyalty to anything else but [having] power in their hands,” said Mehdi Ghajar, an Iranian surgeon in Fresno.
Ghajar said there have been cycles of protests against the regime in the past 43 years because Iranian people are tired of the injustices inflicted on women and others in their country.
These aren’t the first protests against the Iranian regime.
There has been a series of political movements, civil disobedience and online activism and demonstrations against the regime since its creation 43 years ago.
According to the United States Institute of Peace, major protests began in January 1978 against the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. They began after an Iranian newspaper published a front page editorial insulting Ruhollah Khomeini, who served as the first supreme leader of Iran.
In the Iranian Revolution in 1979, people took to the streets to protest against the regime. Euro News reported that many of these people in the protests were either killed or arrested and later killed.
“So many horrible things have been done by this regime at every level, at which you have 5 million Iranians outside of its borders,” Ghajar said.
The violence attributed to the regime has been a push factor for Iranians. Many have emigrated from their home country to find safety elsewhere.
“This religious force is not working for people. (The people) want freedom, they want equality [and] they want human rights,” said a member of the Fresno State community who did want to be identified for fear of retribution against family members in Iran.
In 1999, students protested the government’s restrictions against the press. In 2009, the Green Movement protested election fraud and corruption. From 2017-18, protests circled around economic grievances in Iran.
In 2019 protests were started due to the peak of fuel prices, up to 300%, that were allegedly to help the poor. In January 2020, the Iranian protests surrounded the government’s cover-up of downing a Ukrainian airliner.
Amini’s death sparked the most current uprising.
“It’s gone to the level where people just said, ‘Enough is enough. No matter if it’s my life at stake. [If] I go out there, they’re going to kill me. They’re going to torture me. They’re going to threaten my family, threaten my relatives,’” Ghajar said.
The member of Fresno State said that many of the people of Iran are done begging the government for these rights, so many have taken to social media to show the world the reality Iranians have been living in.
Videos have circulated on social media from young Iranian students showing the struggle many are suffering, from soldiers opening fire against protesters to police beatings.
Late in September, Iranian authorities shut off internet access because of the role foreign-based Persian TV channels have played in the current uprising.
“A lot of people cannot even believe that this exists at this time with all of this technology, and they really shut down the internet so nobody can talk to outside. That’s the reason we, Iranian people who live outside of Iran, need to be their voice, because they don’t have the internet,” the Fresno State employee said.
On Nov. 7, 2022, the Academic Senate of Fresno State voted unanimously to pass a resolution in support of the people of Iran and gender equity. The resolution states that the university will stand in solidarity with the Iranian women and people in their fight for freedom.
It is also stated on the resolution that Fresno State supports and values the diverse faculty and staff, including those in the Iranian community. The university supports global calls for gender equity and stands against discrimination on the basis of gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality or religious belief.
It adds that Fresno State condemns the violent reprisals against protestors throughout schools and universities throughout the Islamic Republic of Iran.
This resolution will be distributed to President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval; the CSU chancellor; the CSU Board of Trustees; the Academic Senate of the California University (ASCSU); and the California Faculty Association (CFA).
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer announced his solidarity with the Iranian people on Sept. 28. He called for the support of the Iranian people, many whose rights have been taken away by the Iranian regime.
“It is important that we stand united and call upon our president and congress to also take a stand against the existing Iranian regime and to levy whatever sanctions are necessary to bring the Iranian government to its knees,” Dyer said.
The United Nations (UN) has remained silent during the protests this year. Nazanin Bondiadi, an actress and amnesty ambassador, spoke to the UN, reading them a letter from a relative who has been imprisoned.
“I ask the United Nations not to be indifferent to the crimes against humanity inside Iran, because they’re killing our children… I ask the United Nations not to remain silent because the lives of our political prisoners are in danger,” the letter said.
The Fresno State employee questions why the UN has not taken action for Iranians yet, saying it has “turned a blind eye” to the humanitarian crisis happening.
“So there are two sides: either you don’t know what’s going on — and I don’t think that could be the case because the news is all over the board — or you don’t care. So these are all the organizations that [are] supposed to care about human rights, and why they are not doing anything?” the source said.
Other universities in the California State University system have also shown support for the victims of the Iranian protests. CSU Northridge held a discussion on Oct. 27, 2022 to bring awareness to what is happening in Iran, over 100 people attended. On Thursday morning, students from Cal Poly organized an on-campus protest.
