Bay Area residents react after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s foreign minister and others were found dead at the site of a helicopter crash. Alyssa Goard reports.
Demonstrators in the East Bay protested Tehran’s killing and imprisonment of its critics on Sunday.
In Berkeley, demonstrators came out to support Iranians fighting for progressive changes in uprisings since September 2022.
“It’s a call for a global cry of ‘no’ to executions,” said Arman Mahmoudi of Bay Area for Iran.
On Sunday, their eyes were glued to video from the foggy mountains where the helicopter carrying 63-year-old President Ebrahim Raisi, the foreign minister and other Iranian dignitaries crashed.
Iran’s state-run TV and its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s ultimate decision-maker, told people to pray for the president and foreign minister.
But later Sunday night, the state media reported that Raisi and other officials were found dead at the site of the helicopter crash.
But those demonstrators in Berkeley as well as people at protests worldwide Sunday — who object to the jailing of dissidents and death sentences for outspoken artists and journalists — said there was no love lost for Raisi.
“This guy was a murderer,” said Moe Moghamad. “He was one of those people that was responsible for killing political prisoners.”
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
They were hopeful that Raisi — and eventually Khamenei — will eventually be replaced by new, more progressive leaders, and that political prisoners would be set free.
“The young generation is totally against any type of ideology in government,” said Modhamad. “They want to have freedom. They want to be connected to the rest of the world.”
While only time will tell if change is in the cards for Iran, demonstrators promised to keep up the pressure on Tehran.
