(Iranian Student Union / Fourth Estate)

‘All we’re trying to do here is to be their voices,’ Pooya Alehossein said

BY ETHAN NAVARRO, STAFF WRITER

George Mason’s Iranian Student Union (ISU) hosted a quiet memorial on Feb. 4 to draw attention to ongoing human rights concerns in Iran. Students honored civilians in Iran who have lost their lives amidst government-sanctioned crackdowns on protests, focusing on remembrance and member testimony.

Protests in Iran have continued as Iranian civilians speak out against economic and social oppression. According to speakers at the event, demonstrators in Iran rallied for “basic human rights and freedoms,” a demand they say was met with lethal force by the Iranian government. 

ISU president Zahra Taghizadeh said the purpose of the event was to inform the broader student population about events she said have received little media coverage. Taghizadeh, an international student pursuing a doctorate in Bioengineering, emphasized the personal importance of this subject to her. 

“We’re not aiming for political action, just telling the truth to people,” Taghizadeh said. “Now that the media isn’t covering it and people are being silenced, we are trying to talk more about it and show what is going on with that regime.”

Speakers at the memorial cited large-scale casualties and arrests in Iran. Some estimates report that more than 30,000 civilians have lost their lives, and estimates of arrests range in the thousands. ISU organizers recognized that limited reporting from Iran due to prolonged media blackouts and government restriction makes it difficult to estimate the scale of the conflict.

According to student speakers, the Iranian government shut down internet access nationwide for two weeks. They said the blackout prevented many Iranians from contacting family members or accessing external media. Some relied on virtual private networks to reach foreign news outlets and social media to report on ongoing events.

The human impact of the situation was the central focus of the memorial. One union member shared that, because of the blackout, they had learned of the loss of a cousin to the conflict days after their death. Others described fear for the welfare of their friends and families considering the little public information available on the status of arrested or reportedly kidnapped individuals.

Speakers at the memorial spoke of additional abuses, including “intelligence forces” reportedly storming hospitals, kidnapping protesters and holding public executions. These claims provide accounts of violence despite the difficulty of verifying information in the face of censure.

For ISU members, events like the Feb. 4 memorial are integral to countering misinformation. Participants said they believe the Iranian government seeks to suppress accurate reporting to maintain power. 

“[Iranians] need international help to spread the news,” Taghizadeh said. “General awareness increases the likelihood that human rights concerns will not be overlooked.”

“All we’re trying to do here is to be their voices,” Pooya Alehossein, a Computer Science major, said. 

“With everything that happens, you hear news outlets that try to propagate what the Iranian government media is saying, and you have some people who are trying to speak the truth,” he said. “We want to be the ones who spread the truth.”

For Mason students, the memorial highlighted how global events intersect with campus life. A university with a large international population, Mason is home to students whose families and loved ones are directly affected by international crises. 

“The more people that know, the better the chances that those basic human rights, and those people, won’t be forgotten,” Taghizadeh said.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Copy Editor Louis Volker contributed reporting to this article.