Impassioned Comets stand for Iranian rights

Students protested against the Irani government's censorship and human rights abuse on Sept. 26 at Chess Plaza.

Approximately 180 protesters chanted “Say her name, Mahsa Amini” and “Zan, Zindagi, Azadi” which means, “Woman, Life, Freedom,” as part of the two-hour demonstration against assembly crackdowns in Iran. Visual and Performing Arts graduate student Shahrzad Hamzeh was part of a group of students and faculty from AHT that organized the protest after they heard about Mahsa Amini’s death, escalating protests and the subsequent internet lockdown.

“We need to show our support, but we are not there,” Shahrzad Hamzeh said.

“We can’t fight beside them. What can we do that could help them? It’s to make people who are here in America, in a country where there is freedom of speech ... be their voice. Maybe the superpowers of the world will do something about this, because the Islamic Republic is a threat to everybody.”

Newsweek reported on Sept. 13 that Amini, 22, was arrested in Tehran by Iran’s morality police for breaking the law by not covering her hair with a hijab. Upon her arrest, she was beaten and entered a coma for three days, after which she died in police custody on Sept. 16. As protests erupted across Iran, the country’s government responded by shutting down the internet on Sept. 19. Three days later, on Sept. 22, Reuters reported that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards would begin prosecuting anyone spreading false news about Amini’s death.

Finance graduate student Alireza Hamzeh said that Amini’s death unified the sentiments of various other protestors in Iran. Pensioners, teachers, truck drivers and others all had previous efforts toward political change, and Amini’s death and the crackdowns on freedom of speech pushed the country over the edge.

“There were a lot of different separate movements,” Alireza Hamzeh said. “Nobody has gotten what they wanted. So now, this time, we are all united …

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