Photo courtesy of Matt Hrkac
By Tere Joyce Randolph and Carlos Rene Castro
Fresno State’s Department of Food Science and Nutrition hosted Mahsa Day, a remembrance day of 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, on Thursday, September 14, 2023, at the Satellite Student Union.
On September 16, 2022, Amini died in a hospital in Tehran, the capital of Iran, while in custody of Iran’s Morality Police after being arrested and beaten by the police for “improperly” wearing her hijab, a head covering worn by Muslim women. However, Iranian officials said she died of a heart attack at a police station.
Mahsay Day began at 6 p.m. and started with a speech from keynote speaker, City of Fresno’s Mayor Jerry Dyer. The event’s purpose for the community, mainly Iranians, to honor Amni’s death and the victims who have died in the protest. In addition to students in attendance and speeches from Dyer and Fresno State Professor Leece Lee-Oliver, Mahsa Day included Persian traditions such as contemporary music.
Two days after her death, Amni’s brutal death triggered widespread protests. In Iran, people, mostly women, protested from Amni’s hometown of Saqqez to cities in northwestern parts of the country. The protesters faced military confrontation in response, resulting in 537 protestors killed by state authority forces and at least 26 death sentences.
Amini’s death has become the symbol of the Women’s Iranian movement, which focuses on the oppression in Iran and Afghanistan. Women, Life, Freedom started back in 1980 when Iranian women started protesting against the strict dress code that the Islamic Republic implemented.
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