Supporters of the opposition movement in Iran rally in front of the State House: from left, Parviz Tlabay, with daughter Iltar, Timo Dipilato, and Ali Mahjub.

The Providence Journal / Kris Craig

PROVIDENCE — The violent images from Tehran so disturbed Iranian refugee Nader Mahmoudi that on Monday he did something he could never have done in his home country: demonstrate without permission or fear of reprisal.

Joined by three dozen supporters, Mahmoudi stood under the State House portico in solidarity with protesters in Iran. He hoisted a homemade placard that proclaimed “We want freedom from the dictator” as supporters chanted “Peace for Iran.” Many were wearing green T-shirts and headbands, a color that Mahmoudi said is considered “very holy in Iran.”

“I am doing it for Neda, for democracy for the country and to stop the killings,” Mahmoudi said. He referred to Neda Soltan, a young woman being hailed as a martyr in Iran after a video of her purported killing during a protest Saturday was posted on the Internet.

Mahmoudi was helped by Socorro Gómez-Potter, principal of the Reservoir Avenue School and volunteer with the International Institute of Rhode Island, the agency that resettled Mahmoudi, his wife and their 11-year-old son. She suggested the State House venue.

Gomez-Potter told Mahmoudi, “In America, you don’t need to get permission. You have freedom of speech and freedom to assemble.”

“At first, we thought it was just going to be a few of us,” said Gómez-Potter. Then she contacted clergy and other advocates and asked if they “will come and stand with Nader,” and “for those who have fallen for Iran.”

“It’s very nice. I’m happy to see so many people come to stand with us,” said Mahmoudi.

Also at the demonstration was Parviz Talebi, an Iranian refugee who arrived in Rhode Island four months ago. He and Mahmoudi are two of the four Iranian refugees to be resettled here in the past two years.

“What’s happened is very bad — the killing,” he said.

Talebi said he was tortured in Iran because of his political activism. As he sat with his infant daughter just outside the State House doors, Talebi said, “It’s very good now – this government.”

In an interview Monday, Mahmoudi said he left Iran 20 years ago because he wanted to become a Christian. Abandoning his Muslim faith made him “like a dissident ... they would have killed me,” he said.

Mahmoudi first moved to Japan, where he attended church for the first time. He later moved to Thailand. He and his wife, Phairin — who is Thai and was raised as a Buddhist — were baptized together. Mahmoudi became a Christian missionary, and said he frequently proselytized at the airport in Bangkok or at open-air markets, where he tried to convert Iranians.

Those efforts had dire consequences.

At one point, he said, he met a man who expressed interest in converting to Christianity. Mahmoudi invited the man to his home, where he planned to give his new friend a spare refrigerator.

“He came with another friend I never saw before … when they came to my house, my son was in school, but my wife was there. They said, ‘We’re not here for the refrigerator. We have news from your government. Stop your activities.’ And then they started beating me.”

Mahmoudi said the two men beat him into unconsciousness, and then — according to his wife — “they took a picture of me, unconscious. Then they left. That time was very bad. I was in the hospital for two-and-a-half days.”

Mahmoudi was given refugee status in the United States based on his fear of religious persecution. He works part-time while attending the Community College of Rhode Island.

“Now I am happy to be in the United States, to freedom country, to do my religious practice and go to church.”

kziner@projo.com