For the second straight day, protesters in Tehran, Iran openly challenged the country's election results. Those same emotions can be felt all the way here in Minnesota.
"We were hoping for change, but we didn't see that," says Neda Shahghasemi, an international student at the University of Minnesota who's from Iran.
KARE 11 spoke Sunday with more than a dozen Iranian students who voted Friday from here in Minnesota. All of them say they voted for reform candidates. None of them say they voted for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"Where's my vote?" says Sara Nasiri-Amini. "I don't believe they even counted any votes. The numbers, the results, they sound like imaginary numbers."
But Ahmadinejad insists the election results are real and precise, and says the foreign media is contributing to dissent. "The protesters are mad because their candidate lost," he says. "They're emotional and upset, but the election is over. I don't like people breaking the law."
Congressman Keith Ellison (D - 5th District), who serves on the House Foreign Affairs committee, expressed concern about election irregularities, but he says American cannot do anything about the results.
"The bottom line is we have to deal with the leadership that's been offered up in that country," Ellison says. "If that's Ahmadinejad, we'll deal with him. If it ends up being [Mir Hossein] Mousavi, we deal with him."
Ellison supports direct talks with Iran, saying the United States needs a region where people are not afraid of nuclear proliferation.
Some Iranian students at the 'U' are not satisfied with the results. They are planning a peaceful rally outside of Coffman Memorial Union on Monday at noon to show support for those protesting in Iran.
"We would like the votes to be recounted or a new election to be sure the votes are counted fairly and there's no fraud," Shahghasemi says.
(Copyright 2009 by KARE 11. All Rights Reserved.)
