Vigil Tonight to Honor Those Killed in Iran Protests

posted on: Jun 26, 2009

In Ann Arbor, about 200 people are to gather tonight for a candlelight vigil at the University of Michigan for the 17 people reported killed in Iran this week while protesting perceived fraud in that country’s contested national elections.
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In a Waterford home, a retired Iranian-American engineer anxiously wonders how things will turn out back home.

At the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights, Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi is praying several times a day for reconciliation and peace in his homeland.

Across southeast Michigan, thousands of Iranian Americans are paying attention to the protests that threaten the regime of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who declared himself winner of the June 12 election and is to be sworn in as early as today. His main opponent, Mir Hossein Mousavi, accused the government of rigging the election.

According to Iranian-American leaders in metro Detroit, many of the estimated 5,000 Michiganders of Iranian descent seem to approve of President Barack Obama’s attempts to support Iranians’ right to peacefully demonstrate and resolve the situation without international intervention.

“We consider what is going on as a family problem,” Elahi said.

Students, Iranian Americans and others are expected to attend the vigil from 8 to 10 p.m., said Mehdi Sharif, 45, of Rochester Hills, who helped organize the event. In Ann Arbor and Lansing, students from Ohio and several Michigan universities have rallied at least three times in the last two weeks in support of the Iranian people.

And at the Waterford home of Kazem Mirkhani, the conversation over poker hands on Sunday was about parallels between the recent protests and the ones that overthrew Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1979, establishing the current Islamic Republic.

“The difference between now and then is that back then, 90% of the Iranian people wanted to bring the shah down,” Mirkhani said. “Now it’s not like everyone wants to get rid of the regime.”

Emilia Askari
Detroit Free Press