On Monday night, eight bands rocked to raise awareness of Iranian civil rights issues at the Sacred Heart University Freedom Concert. In Iran, most rock concerts are banned and attending at underground shows can lead to fines and even public flogging. So students in Connecticut decided to use their freedom to put on a show of solidarity with their peers in Iran.
Co-sponsored by dozens of campus groups of all backgrounds, including Amnesty International, the concert drew a packed crowd to the Egerton Center. In addition to the musicians, the evening featured two keynote speakers. Kianoosh Sanjari, a 25-year-old Iranian student activist received a particularly warm welcome, as it was his first speaking engagement at a US university. Jailed at age 17 for his activism, Sajari was tortured and put in solitary confinement for 111 days in Iran’s notorious Evin prison. “By bringing together students, faculty, musicians and prominent human rights activists we are
sending a strong message,” said event coordinator Jason Guberman-Pfeffer. “The daily violations of the Iranian people’s most basic freedoms by Iranian regime leaders are illegal - and we will not be accomplices, silent or otherwise, to them,”
Rock on!
+ Iran - Solidarity with Iranian dissidents, especially students
http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_24761.shtml
