Issue date: 6/17/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Courtesy Photo Protestors from around the Bryan-College Station community Tuesday rallied against the results of the presidential election in Iran. [Click to enlarge]

Iranian students and community members from Bryan and College Station gathered at Rudder Plaza to protest the results of Friday's election in Iran, and raise awareness of the issue.

"We believe, and a lot of Iranian people believe that this election has been stolen," said Mehran Mirjafari, protest organizer and electrical engineering graduate student. "We don't want violence - we just want our votes back."

The Iranian government announced that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won 63 percent of the votes and reform leader Mir Hossein Mousavi received 34 percent of the votes.

"With the massive rallies in the streets it is impossible," Mirjafari said. "There were two main Reformist candidates, and both of them received less votes than Ahmadinejad in their own provinces. It would be like Barack Obama being defeated in Chicago."

Students at the protest said the Iranian government had ignored the actual election results and imposed Ahmadinejad as president.

"The fraud is obvious," Mirjafari said. "Ahmadinejad is not our president. We have not elected him."

Censorship is a problem in Iran, and was an issue in the election, said petroleum engineering graduate student Danial Kaviani.

"The TV is under control of the Supreme Leader. They check the newspapers before publishing," Kaviani said. "You will see a blank column where the government said 'you cannot publish this.'"

Ahmadinejad's government has shut down cell phone networks, text messaging services, and websites, Kaviani said.

"If we give information to people, he cannot win," Kaviani said.

Tuesday's protest at Rudder was intended to show solidarity with the people of Iran, Kaviani said.

Protests are illegal in Iran without a permit from the government.

"We are worried about the militia that support the government. They don't wear uniforms. They go into the crowd and they cause terrible, terrible crimes," Mirjafari said. "According to state radio, eight people were killed yesterday in a very, very peaceful rally … If you think you have a lot of supporters, why do you do this? Why do you send a militia into a peaceful protest and kill them?"

Continued...

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