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Pushed onto the patio of Huntington Beard Crouse Hall by wind and rain, around 20 people holding signs which read “WOMAN. LIFE. FREEDOM,” rallied in support of protests in Iran against the country’s “morality police” on Wednesday.

The event was among hundreds of Iranian Scholars for Liberty rallies in the United States, Europe and Australia. Sara Akbarnejad Nesheli, one of the event’s organizers and a PhD student at SUNY ESF, said the rally aimed to project the voice of the Iranian people.

“(We want) everyone around the world to know what happens in Iran,” Nesheli said. “This is a revolution, and the people of Iran want to spread their voice.”

Protests in Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini – a 22-year-old detained for improperly wearing her hijab as mandated by the Iranian government – began in September. Once detained, Iranian police beat Amini, according to a United Nations report. The country’s government contends her Sept. 16 death was due to a heart attack.

Protests in Iran against the hijab law have spread to as many as 80 cities, making it the largest anti-government protest in Iran since 2009, the New York Times reported. Since the protests began, over 18,000 people have been detained and over 450 protesters have been killed, according to the Human Rights Activists organization.

Along with spreading the people of Iran’s voices, Nesheli said she wants the campus community to understand the difference between the Iranian government and the people.

Outside of Syracuse University and ESF, students at other upstate New York college campuses — including Siena College, Cornell University and the University of Rochester — rallied with Iranian Scholars for Liberty.

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One of the signs at SU’s protest comprised photos of 49 children, all of whom it said have been killed by “the Islamic regime in the last two months.” The sign listed the names and ages of the children, along with the phrase “For the children of Iran.” The youngest child on the board was 7 years old.

UNICEF said on Sunday that over 50 children had been killed and injured throughout the “public unrest” in Iran.

“UNICEF also remains deeply concerned about continued raids and searches conducted in some schools,” the organization wrote in a press release. “Schools must always be safe places for children.”

Throughout the hour, those rallying began to sing. One of the songs, translated from Farsi into English as “In the name of daughters of the land of the sun,” was written in support of the ongoing movement in the country.

“Together we form a sea — We rage as a storm — Together we are strong fists — We shout, Freedom,” the group sang in Farsi. “O Freedom! O Freedom! — Woman Life Freedom,” protestors sang.

During the rally, Medhi Nejatbakhsh, a Ph.D. student in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, read an abridged version of the Iranian Scholars for Liberty’s statement. He said the point of the rally in Syracuse, and across the world, was to demonstrate students’ role in Iran’s ongoing revolution. The “so-called morality police,” Nejatbakhsh said, have brutally suppressed any peaceful demonstration or protest.

“As we are here, many students and academics are being assaulted, detained, abducted and held in unknown locations,” he said. “Many of them, if not all, are being subjected to brutal interrogations, coerced confessions, torture, rape and some are facing wrongful convictions.”

In the full statement, the organization demanded that colleges, universities and global governments issue an official statement condemning “the assault on the academic community in Iran” as well as boycott Iranian university officials and academics “facilitating the Regime’s attacks on Iranian students and scholars.”

“The unity of the academic voice and leveraging our platform to promote democratic values will influence the world’s interactions with Iran and will advance the world toward peace and equality,” the group wrote.

After the rally, Neshli said the event was only the first from the Iranian Scholars for Liberty. She added that the organization will continue to support the Iranain people until they have their freedom.

“I hope our next event will be a celebration,” Nejatbakhsh said, closing out the rally.

Published on December 1, 2022 at 1:02 am

Contact Kyle: kschouin@syr.edu | @Kyle_Chouinard