Web exclusive: Students, residents protest Iranian election

Iranian citizens protesting presidential election results in their country are hoping they will be heard by a government thousands of miles away and inspire change in Iran.

Local Iranians and Iranian graduate students from universities — including MSU — met Thursday at the Capitol to fight for their voting rights and protest what they call “election fraud” in Iran.

On June 12, Iranians cast their ballots, and the next day, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected as president to the country, defeating opponent Mir Hossein Mousavi. The results of the election have sparked protests across the world, including a rally in Tehran some are calling the biggest since the 1979 revolution.

“We’re saying we want a fair democracy with a fair vote,” said Nazy Kazerani, a Grand Valley State University student. “Most of us believe that Mousavi should have been the president and we want a re-election. And we want the votes to be counted for fairly.”

Showing support is most important to some protesters who said whether Iranians are in the country or not, they will fight for a cause they believe in.

“We want to show the other people, even if they are in Iran or out of Iran, we support our people and we just want to show that,” said Zahra Nossoni, an MSU graduate student.

Protesters called for a new election supervised by an independent party and a stop to all violence against Iranians by the government.

Kazerani said she hopes protests like this one will make a difference and encourage the end of unnecessary violence in the country.

“(Protests) are all over the world,” she said. “So far, 40 people have been killed just in Iran, and thousands have been injured, so I think (change) is possible. I hope it is.”

With a brother in Iran protesting the elections, University of Michigan graduate student Aria Sahebi said he also will protest to encourage his people.

“I’m just doing what I can do,” Sahebi said. “The only thing we can do here is this.”

Protesters said election results announced in a short period of time combined with service problems for cell phones and Internet access during the elections makes them second-guess the legitimacy of the process.

Even though they might be miles away, protesters said the emotions the election has evoked might help them make a difference and might have some effect on the election process.

“People are really angry and shocked,” MSU graduate student Faramarz Vafaee said. “I guess we have good chance (to make a difference.)”