In an effort to spotlight the egregious human rights abuses that take place on a daily basis in Iran, the pro-Israel student advocacy organization “Stand With Us” staged a silent demonstration in Manhattan on September 19th at the entrance to Central Park on 59th Street and Columbus Circle. The protest came in response to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to New York and his upcoming address to the United Nations General Assembly slated for September 23rd.
Approximately 60 people attended the silent protest which featured “street theater.” Participants placed blue duct tape over their mouths to signify the lack of free speech or dissension in Iran. Others held signs that depicted the horrific human rights abuses that take place in the country. While there were no speakers or organized crowds chanting, the powerful message of those suffering under the draconian rule of the Iranian regime came across loud and clear. Attendees included longtime Jewish activist Helen Freedman, the New York City coordinator of Americans for a Safe Israel (AFSI), who was accompanied by a contingent of AFSI members. Freedman declared:
“We came here today to stand in solidarity with those Iranian citizens who are being beheaded, stoned and buried alive for speaking out against the tyrannical rule of the Iranian ayatollahs. It is the pinnacle of hypocrisy for Iranian President Ahmadinejad to come to New York and speak at the United Nations while his own citizens are not granted the basic rights of free speech that we take for granted in this country. We also hold the UN responsible for extending an invitation to Ahmadinejad.”
Holding aloft photos of dissidents who have been tortured and murdered by the Iranian regime, the demonstrators also held signs saying, “Down with dictators,” “In Iran, you are KILLED for opposing the government,” “Iran is the world sponsor of terrorism – imagine them with nukes!” and “Impediment to peace – Iran.”
Most of the signs present displayed a photo of Ahmadinejad’s face. Many of those who participated in the demonstration were Iranian dissidents, now living in the United States and the United Kingdom, and others who personally felt the lash of Ahmadinejad’s government.
One such woman is Shahla Ebrahimi, who came to the protest with her husband, Alireza Yaghoubi, and their teenage children, Amir and Kosar. Mrs. Ebrahimi and her family now live in the U.K. where they regularly attend demonstrations on behalf of human rights in Iran. “Twenty years ago, I was arrested, blindfolded, and taken to a purported court where I was not allowed to speak. I was imprisoned for three years for protesting against the Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Khomeini regimes of oppression, intimidation, arrest, and death,” she said. She added that her husband Alireza was arrested 14 years ago and imprisoned for 5 years in the Evin torture prison in Teheran. While being transferred from one place to another, his back was broken by his Iranian tormentors. As a result of the injuries inflicted on him, Alireza lost most of his hearing.
During this tumultuous period, Mrs. Ebrahimi said that the couple’s so-called “friends” in Iran exploited their grievous situation and stole all of their money. Subsequent to the their release, the two traveled to Germany for a brief time and then back to Iran where Mrs. Ebrahimi’s in-laws were dying. Alireza was immediately detained by Iranian police. “My husband, Alireza, had to run away to the border with Turkey, where a smuggler found him after 20 days and for $10,000 was able to get him into England,” she emotionally recalled. Mrs. Ebrahimi counts herself and her family among the lucky few who were able to get out of Iran and into England where they now reside. Her children attend school in the U.K. while Mrs. Ebrahimi is studying to be a dental hygenist.
Thankfully, we were able to get visas and use our British passports to come to the US to attend this week’s series of demonstrations against Ahmadinejad,” said Mrs. Ebrahimi. ”Our story and others just like it, need to be told. The world must wake up to the madness of this Iranian miscreant [Ahmadinejad] and take him seriously. Under his leadership and that of the powerful imams, Iran represents an existential danger to the free world. A nuclear armed Iran spells death and destruction to all peoples. We must raise our voices in outrage and indignation before it is too late.”
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