And as we've been watching the
video of these protesters in
Iran clashing with police there,
there are many Iranians here in
San Diego who've been staying
up day and night wondering how
their loved ones are doing.
But there is a sense of pride for the
bravery that we're all watching unfold.
Masood Rahmani knows first hand
how dangerous it can be to go
against the current regime in Iran.
There are threats against every
single person who is trying to talk
against them and tell the truth.
He grew up in Iran,
what we call basic human rights.
I had none of these in Iran.
He left to escape persecution.
I tried my best to be voice of
people, but then I felt danger.
He was an actor there,
performing on government,
run TV and on the stage.
But when he wrote a script that painted
the government in a dark light,
in a best case, you're going to get fired,
you're going to be kicked out,
and in the worst case, you're
going to be arrested or killed.
Having zero freedom of expression,
Masoud fled as a refugee in March 2013,
first to Turkey, then to the US in 2016.
You see him now, writing
and rapping free of fear.
I had to escape from there in order
to be a voice of my my people.
This Iranian singer, Shervin Hajipur,
tried to be the voice of his people as well,
singing tweets from Iranians.
But he is now in jail for his powerful song,
considered the anthem for the Iranian
Revolution and during these volatile times.
Massoud, who recently became a U.S.
citizen and is going to San Diego State,
has accepted that he may not get
to see his family for a long time,
but he cherishes his memories with them.
Describe what it's
like inside a home of an Iranian family.
It's completely different.
This is a great question.
The Islamic Republic caused us
to have two different lives.
We dance, we listen to music.
We are happy.
But outside we supposed to
don't show that at all because.
We would get arrested.
These protests now are inspired by
Massa Amini who died in police custody
for not wearing a hijab properly.
But there's so much more to them.
Led mostly by women and students,
they're fed up over a more
than 40 year dictatorship.
In this video, girls at school are
seen taking off their headscarves,
which are required in public there.
But now they're waving them towards a
school leader, telling him to get out
there chanting against the
Islamic Republic because
they don't want their future.
To be wasted like that.
Massoud recalls being in elementary
and middle schools feeling like
he was getting brainwashed.
We were being forced by Islamic Republic
regime to go to the street and chant
slogans against America, against Israel.
Public Republic was trying to
systematically raise the hate,
but, he explains, Iranians simply want peace,
a life similar to what he sees here.
Walking without fear, kissing each other
in the street without fear, dancing,
walking their dogs like doing doing
so much basic things without fears.
We want the same things.
Masoods consumed by the news
from Iran and is hopeful.
This is the movement he's
been waiting his whole life
for. I don't know what the world waiting for.
To respond to actually making action,
just putting some sanction and showing
solidarity won't be enough. We need actions.
Incredible story.
And that's just Massoud story, right?
There's lots of those stories.
People in Iran that went through that are
still going through that.
There will be another global rally
for freedom in Iran in major cities,
including here in San Diego tomorrow.
And we also want to let you know,
tomorrow many Iranian women artists,
they'll be putting on a musical performance
at the San Diego Museum of Art.
The Persian Cultural Center is
inviting everybody to what's
called voices of Motherland View,
restored new Iranian art at the
museum and listened to their music.
All in Balboa Park.
Because for so long,
the past, over 40 years now,
artists have not been able to
express themselves freely in Iran.
So they're able to
do that here. So the revolution
happening there in Iran,
but the support that we've been
seeing around the world and as
you mentioned here in San Diego
is has also been astonishing.
It has. And it, I mean it, it means a lot,
obviously, for the Iranians to
see the world coming together.
And it helps kind of give
them more of a voice. Yeah.
Because their Internet has been shut off.
There's been a lot of issues with.
Instagram. WhatsApp.
Not, you know, coming through.
Yeah, so it's hard to hear what's
actually happening in Iran right
now. Thanks for sharing that
eye opening story.