If a group of protesters rallied in Fresno against the Iranian leadership in Tehran, they may be arrested or worse. On the streets of Fresno, it was an exercise of the First Amendment.

A group of Iranian Americans took to Blackstone and Nees avenues Thursday night, objecting to new Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. The former head of Iran’s judiciary, critics blame Raisi for leading the “Death Committee” leading to the deaths of thousands of political prisoners. He denied his role in the death sentences, the BBC reports.

“We, Iranian-Americans wish for human rights to be a central point of demands by our US administration with this brutal regime in its nuclear negotiations and for Raisi not to be permitted to set foot on U.S. soil but rather tried in the International Court of Justice,” group organizer Mehdi Ghajar said.

(Video courtesy of Dr. Mehdi Ghajar)

Group Questions Voting Legitimacy

The group also questioned the legitimacy of Raisi’s election. As the BBC reported, “the hard-line Guardian Council disqualified several prominent moderate and reformist candidates. Dissidents and some reformists urged voters to boycott the poll, complaining that the process had been engineered to ensure Mr Raisi faced no serious competition.”

Raisi won with 62% of the vote.

“This person was rejected not only in this election via boycott but also 4 years ago in massive numbers despite being hand selected by the brutal ‘supreme leader,” Ghajar said.

Photos From the Protest