RAYLEEN HSU Demonstrators gather in front of the Federal
Building in Westwood on Sunday to remember the anniversary of a
dorm raid in Tehran, Iran.
By Marcelle Richards
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Protesters waved national flags at the Federal Building Sunday
during a rally to commemorate the second anniversary of a dorm raid
in Tehran, Iran that left one student activist dead.
When the government banned the Tehran University newspaper on
July 9, 1999, student demonstrators sympathetic to the reform
movement rose up. Later that night, the students’ dormitory
was stormed by police as more than 20 students were seriously
injured and property was vandalized.
The Iranian government said the raid was not authorized by the
Interior Ministry, which has authority over the police force.
President Mohammed Khatami said the incident indicated the need for
more stringent control over the police, but many protesters feel
the calling has gone unanswered.
“We’re just protesting against the Islamic regime
and celebrating those who have given their lives for this
cause,” said Niousha Moini, a third-year psychobiology
student, who sat on a concrete block in between a line of
protesters with signs showing photos of the bloodied students.
A few hundred people gathered on the lawn, some wedged between
multigenerational families, others alone because they were the only
ones in their families to leave Iran.
Meanwhile, the crowd chanted “death to the Iranian
regime” in Farsi.
“The Islamic regime has been a terrorist regime,”
said Jimmy Sedghi, who advocates the return of the ruling monarchy
to Iran. “We want the free world to help bring democratic
justice.”
Though the 1999 incident was a focal point for the gathering,
many spoke of ongoing troubles in the country. Those who seek to
end the current state of the country are rallying for new political
leadership.
Sedghi said the struggle is most intense for those between the
ages of 18-25.
“Particularly the students have been a target,” he
said. “The government is trying to kill them so they scare
them from activism.”
Sedghi also said that women were especially vulnerable to
abuses.
Azar Naseri was one of the women who left the country ““
and her husband.
“Thank God I got divorced before the revolution. If not, I
would have had no rights,” Naseri said.
Naseri said many women she knew did not attend universities
because they were pressured to enter the sex market in order to go
to school.
However, the protesters said the silence has been broken by
their presence which they hope will raise awareness.
“A lot of people have been stoned to death, women have
been raped in jail,” Sedghi said. “We’re asking
the free world to support our cause.”