Former member of Iranian morality police now living in Colorado Springs speaks on civil unrest
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Part of a devout Shi'ite family in Tehran, Iran, Mohamad Faridi grew up ingrained in Islam.
It was inside a mosque that Faridi was recruited to be a part of the country's morality police — a group that enforces Islamic law, searching for people who are not complying with the Islamic regime.
"They choose out of the pious Muslims," said Faridi. "They choose within those groups to take you for training, and then you become a part of this morality police."
When Faridi turned 26, however, he converted to Christianity and experienced life on the receiving end of the group's law enforcement.
"The very people that I came out of, they called me a traitor," said Faridi. "They wanted to kill me because I betrayed them by leaving Islam."
After three years of religious persecution in Iran, Faridi fled to Turkey where he lived for three years before he was granted religious refuge in the United States.
While the majority of his family and friends are still there, Faridi now lives in Colorado Springs. Even from miles away, he is feeling the pain of the Iranians that are still there.
"I've been praying for them that they'll stay safe, but it's been like a war zone now in Iran," said Faridi.
His prayers center on a conflict that started on Sept. 16, when the death of a 22-year-old girl sparked protests around the world.
Mahsa Amini was visiting Faridi's hometown of Tehran on Sept. 13, when she was arrested by morality police for violating the Islamic dress code laws by improperly wearing her hijab in public.
A United Nations report shows that Amini was severely beaten while held in detention by police, her injuries ultimately leading to her death.
Outraged, Iranians took to the streets in their home country, and waves of people gathered around the world to voice their outrage and stand in solidarity.
Sunday afternoon, crowds gathered in Denver at the state capitol in a protest of their own.
Faridi is now watching the violence unfold in anger and frustration as he thinks about his loved ones thousands of miles away.
"Today's people, they think they're doing God a favor by killing these girls," said Faridi. "The Iranian people are so sick and tired of these things, that a 22-year-old girl's life forever is destroyed because she wasn't covering herself up to the dress code of the Islamic regime or the Islamic laws of Iran."
