Cleveland’s Iranian community comes together one year after the death of Mahsa Amini 

On Sept. 16, 2022, Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old from Iran, was brutally killed by the police in Iran for not wearing her hijab correctly. This sparked the Woman Life Freedom movement, the first ever worldwide movement in Iran led by women. 

One year after her passing, about 50 members of the Iranian community in Cleveland gathered near the Cleveland Museum of Art to protest the Iranian government, holding signs, chanting, and listening to Iranian music. 

Saturday’s protest was organized by Simin Homafar and Farah Farahati, two Iranian immigrants who are part of the Cleveland Iranian community. They said the goal of the protest is letting Iranians know they are not alone and that the revolution is still alive. 

“The goal is to be the voice for the women of Iran and make aware that the revolution is not dead,” Homafar said. “And the ultimate goal of the revolution is regime change in Iran.” 

They said when the one-year anniversary was approaching, they reached out to the other Iranian community members and asked people to come out in support of the revolution. The people who attended waved flags, held signs that read “Woman, Life, Freedom”, showed photos of victims of the regime since Mahsa passed and yelled chants such as “Justice for Iran.” One of the photos showed a victim that was shot by police at only 12 years old. 

While Mahsa Amini’s death was the tipping point of the Woman Life Freedom Movement, the oppression has been occurring for a long time, according to Cleveland resident and Iranian immigrant, Fatemeh Pishdadian.

She said when she was 8 months old, the Iranian regime killed her parents for being political activists, torturing and executing them. Throughout her life, this is the first time she has seen Iranian solidarity like the Woman Life Freedom movement. 

“I have never seen this from the majority of the people in Iran,” she said. “There is a reign of terror; you are afraid for your safety and the safety of your family to even approach politics.” 

“People are at a point where they don’t have anything to lose,” she said.

At the time Pishdadian’s parents were killed, there were very few political activists or people who dared to defend them. Now, people are standing up against the government despite the danger. Pishdadian said graves of victims are flooded with flowers, something that was unseen before the Woman Life Freedom movement. 

“They broke my mom’s tombstone, and nobody would dare go to protest,” she said. “The social revolution has already happened; we are just doing our best to see the last stage of the political revolution.”

Pishdadian immigrated in 2009 with her husband, Hamid Charkhkar, who was also active in the protest on Saturday. He said the “Mahsa Act”, legislation overwhelmingly passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last week, is one of the impacts of protests in the United States in support of Iran. 

“Through the Mahsa Act, the leadership in Iran will be pressured and sanctioned,” he said. “As a member of Iranian community, I personally would welcome such efforts through the U.S. government to increase pressure on the Iranian leadership and let them know the world is watching.” 

The Mahsa Act measures would sanction people involved in making weapons in Iran along with the leaders involved in the oppression of the people in Iran. Another measure condemns persecution of the Baha’i religious minority. After its approval by the House last week, it will next be presented to the Senate. 

Other members of the Cleveland Iranian community, including Elham Mousavi, brought their families to the protest. Mousavi came to show her support for the Iranian people she is connected to who remain in Iran. 

Mousavi and her family immigrated in 2017 by winning a visa lottery through diversity visa program, and she now lives in the suburbs of Cleveland. Her son was born in Iran and her daughter in the United States, while her family remains in Iran. She said she feels a responsibility to take action in the United States since she is able to.

“If the people in Iran see, they will see the people who left the country didn’t leave the people,” she said. “They will know they are not alone.”