NEW YORK—Over 600 Iranians and supporters rallied at Time Square and marched to the United Nations on Saturday, demanding civil rights, freedom and equality from the Iranian government.
Following disputed results of the presidential election last month in Iran, an unconfirmed number of Iranians who took to the streets in protest were arrested. An unknown number of people were also killed by government officials during the protests.
“There are a lot of people who have been arrested, and there are a lot of people who have disappeared, and we don’t know where they are,” said the spokesman for the New York chapter of Where is My Vote?, a worldwide organization created in response to the Iranian election results. He asked to be identified as N.H.
N.H. said that the New York chapter of Where is My Vote? organized the event locally to send a message to the U.N.
“We want the U.N. to send a committee to Iran to investigate the disappearances, the crimes and the torture,” said N.H. “We want a delegation to go to Iran [and investigate].” Other demands include the immediate release of political prisoners, an end to state-sponsored violence, and accountability for those who have committed crimes.
The Facebook-initiated rally and march were part of an international day of protests in over 100 cities, including Vancouver, Cairo, Caracas, Manila, Paris, Melbourne and New Delhi. Some of the slogans protesters yelled out included, “The people united will never be defeated.”
Klanoush Nazarpour, an Iranian citizen who has lived in the United Kingdom for five years, joined the rally as he is currently on a business trip in New York. He cast his vote to reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who, according to official election results, was defeated by over 30 percent.
“I have all my family over there [in Iran],” said Mr. Nazarpour. “[My family is] very angry with the result that was announced by the government. And they also believe that it was very, very manipulated.”
Nazarpour said that in the previous round of protest, which was mainly on and after July 8th, 1998, a few of his college friends were arrested for opposing the regime’s “ridiculous strategies.”
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a journalism rights organization represented at the Times Square rally on Saturday, is also concerned about the situation in Iran. Not only have Iranians been detained, many journalists have also been put in secret detention centers or jail. Some were questioned and released, while others are simply missing.
“Our organization has worked tirelessly to get [some of] the over 40 journalists put behind bars in Iran [after the election] released,” said Tala Dowlatshahi, a senior advisor and spokeswoman for Reporters Without Borders USA. Dowlatshahi is also an Iranian-American. “The world knows now that these journalists did not commit any violations. They are being held illegally. Iran now stands next to China as the world’s largest prison for journalists.”
The final destination of the protest march was in front of the United Nations. The supporters who gathered were mostly Iranian-Americans and supporters of all ages who came to call for freedom and democracy in Iran.
A few speakers and musicians rallied the crowd, who waved green flags, held their hands up in the peace sign, and held signs saying “United for Iran.”
Some of the speakers during the rally tied widely contested election results to the future stability of Iran and the middle east.
“If you want to solve the nuclear weapon problem, you’ve got to focus on the rights of the people,” said Ken Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch. “Terror may work in the short term to suppress protests on the streets, but it will not work in the long run”, said Mr. Roth. He added that protesting in front of the U.N. was an effort to “mobilize the governments across the street”.
One of the protesters in the crowd was Bijan Afkami, the president of Bijan International, and the founder of “Iran Democracy Plan,” a project that promotes democracy. Afkami also works as a coach to some of Motorola’s top executives.
“This is not an Iranian problem only,” said Mr. Afkami. “This is for the country and for the world.”
Most of the crowd eventually sat down in the plaza where the U.N. rally was held to listen to Iranian musician Fared Shafinury and others play traditional music. Many people in the crowd sang along.
“We came here to support the Iranian people, and demand that the U.N. step forward, take action and put some pressure on the Iranian regime to change,” said one onlooker named Athan (who only gave his first name). He left Iran as a child, and now lives and works in New York as a salesman.
“Religions and politics cannot be mixed,” said Athan. “I’m not here for Mousavi, I’m here for the Iranian people. The real leader of the revolution is not Mousavi. The real leader is the crowd.”
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