MSU's Iranian Community Watches and Worries Half a World Away From Home

Protests in Iran have the Mississippi Iranian community worried about their friends and family.

Iran’s contested presidential election has Mississippi State’s Iranian community on edge. MPB’s Cari Gervin reports.

Mississippi State University has had an Iranian student presence at least since the 1960’s. Today the community is larger than ever – there are a couple dozen Iranian faculty members and graduate students.

But right now, school is the last thing on their minds.

“We cannot do anything.”

Mohammad is an engineering grad student.

“We’re all concerned in following the news. It, it influence our research these days.”

Like everyone else interviewed for this story, Mohammad declined to give his last name for fear of reprisals at home. He says some of his relatives and friends have participated in the demonstrations in Iran, and he’s worried about them. His friend Omid says the same thing.

“We are shocked about the violence we saw in media. And actually we didn’t expect to see that cruelty from the government side.”

The BBC has reported that at least 17 people have died since the protests began after the June 12 election. But it is the video of Neda, a young female protester shot in the streets of Tehran, that has gotten the most attention. A grad student named Ashkan says when he saw the video, he cried.

“I mean, you see that kind of violence in movies, but seeing it in reality, happening in front of your eyes, that’s something that will shock you, that will be with you forever. I mean, this is the face of an innocent girl, being shot like that, for nothing!”

Wearing a green t-shirt in support of presidential challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi, a grad student named Sara puts it best:

“We think all the people that are live in Iran, all of them, they are our brother and sisters. All those young people that they are dying. And they are so brave to go out in the streets and shout, although they know that this might be the last day of their life. So we all feel that they are our families. We don’t think they are just people we don’t know.”

And until there is a resolution, peaceful or bloody, several dozen eyes in Starkville will be turned east.

For MPB News, I’m Cari Gervin.