Cal State Northridge students and faculty members and friends and supporters of Northridge graduate student Esha Momeni will gather in front of the university’s Oviatt Library on Wednesday, Nov. 12, for a candlelight vigil in support of the imprisoned mass communications major.
The “Please Free Esha Candlelight Vigil” is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. on the steps of the library located in the heart of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.
Momeni’s classmates said they were organizing the event “because we cannot be passive observers while she is imprisoned and being kept from her studies at CSUN,” said Anasa D. Sinegal, a graduate student in mass communications.
Momeni was arrested by Iranian police Oct. 15 while she was in the country visiting family and doing research for her master’s thesis on the Iranian women’s movement. According to a statement from Change for Equality, a women’s rights organization, Momeni, a graphic artist and photographer, was initially detained for allegedly passing a vehicle illegally.
The vigil is expected to be a celebration of Momeni’s photography, art and poetry.
The event’s organizers have asked that students worldwide join their call for the release of Momeni, “who is working to bridge divisions between cultures.”
“Esha is a rarity,” said classmate John Daquioag, a CSUN mass communications graduate student. “She is the type of person whose very presence and personality cause you to rethink your long-held assumptions-particularly about the roles of women and Iranians living here and abroad.”
For more information about Momeni’s situation, visit the Web site www.myspace.com/pleasefreeesha.
