Melina Shadi

Assistant Project Scientist at University of California, Davis I
Pharmacist I Human Rights Advocate

[Melina Shadi @MelinaShadi]

What kind of world are we leaving behind for our children?

These are only a few of the children killed during recent protests in Iran, including Kian Pirfalak, a nine-year-old Iranian boy killed during the crackdown on the Mahsa Amini protests.

[Hannah Neumann @HNeumannMEP]

I have received a request for a meeting with the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic to France.

I declined it.

My door is open to the people of Iran. It is not open to those who represent and execute their repression.

Here is my full reply:

[Natalie Lisbona @NatalieLisbona]

Hours and hours of previously unseen, sickening footage collected by @ManotoNews document the Iranian regime’s mass killing of protesters.

@AndyJehring and I were given access to this extraordinary archive — including footage captured by protesters in their final moments.

The scale of the bloodshed, and the brutality of the regime, are laid bare.

Read more here :::

https://t.co/Ts2rjftGkl

[suri @suri_washere]

If you want to know what happened in Iran in January, watch this series from Manoto on YouTube.

[Daily Mail @DailyMail]

'Sepehr, my son, where are you?': Footage shows Iranian father's desperate search for his son in hellish aftermath of regime's crackdown on protesters https://t.co/LNoMVCpcQ3

[Shaheen Bakhshi @SRB2016]

Farnaz Fake News Fassihi, a so called @nytimes "journalist", a well know mouthpiece for the Islamic Republic who keeps publishing "exclusives" on the regime attended the party Pezeshkian threw for the lobbyists in NYC.

[Neo @Realneo101]

🔴 The Islamic Republic has just moved Ali Zarei to solitary confinement to execute him.

They already took his right eye during the 2022 protests. Now they are coming for his life.

Save Ali Zarei. Share his name.

[Melina Shadi @MelinaShadi]

@shabi_anisci قطعا داره یه چیزی برای موتورش میگیره!

[Melina Shadi @MelinaShadi]

@arshiakmn اصلا شما هر چی بیشتر درس بخونی بیشتر متوجه میشی که به هیچ جایی نمیرسی😂

[Melina Shadi @MelinaShadi]

@mewmiom Canada Goose, Carhartt

[Melina Shadi @MelinaShadi]

@iamraahaa همه مدل های هوش مصنوعی در این زمینه گاون!

[دور افتاده @ninianomada]

Fixed your statements for you! @duolingo
Your discrimination is despicable!

[You Can Call Me Mobin @IamMobinAzizi]

#StopIranianEducationSanctions

[Matin Mirramezani @matinmrz]

The recent action by the Treasury on Iran are incredibly aggressive with far-reaching consequences.
The suspension of the education-focused general license G, is reportedly leading to cancellation of international assessments (TOEFL and IELTS) and tests on Duolingo for Iranians.

[کت لیدی بدون کت @catlady_wocat]

This is wild discrimination. @TOEFL and @duolingo canceling tests for Iranians solely because of their nationality shuts students out of universities and opportunities worldwide. Young people should not be punished for where they were born. This is unacceptable.

[Maddie ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ @maddief86]

TOEFL and Duolingo are canceling tests for Iranians, while these tests are a basic requirement for many universities abroad.
Think about that for a second. Young people who are already being terrorized and deprived of their future by the regime are trying to leave, study, and build a life somewhere safer and now even that door is being closed because of their nationality.
They are not the Iranian regime. They are its victims. This becomes even more cruel when you remember that, in January 2026 alone, the Iranian regime killed at least 40,000 people, many of them young Iranians. These are the same young people who are now being denied opportunities to study and build a life outside Iran. They are being crushed from both sides by the regime at home and by sanction policies which target ordinary people not the IRGC.

#LiftSanctionsOnTOEFLAndDuolingo

[TheScottishKitten @lePetitPrince40]

Banning an entire nationality from an exam isn't any different from putting up a sign that bans them from a public park. Discrimination has no place in education.

@duolingo, learning is a universal right, not a privilege based on where we were born.

#DuolingoEnglishTest

[Atoosa Kasirzadeh (in Berkeley 1-6 Oct) @Dr_Atoosa]

Hi @duolingo! Pittsburgh and CMU have given so much to help all kinds of people flourish, including your own non-US born co-founder and many others who helped make Pittsburgh and CMU the gems they are today. It breaks my heart to see a policy that discriminates based on place of birth. We don’t choose where we’re born, but we choose who we become. Please keep Duo true to its mission; let your tech serve all of humanity. 💚

[Afra Mosadegh @AfraMosadegh]

Iranian students should not lose access to international exams because of political decisions beyond their control. Education is a right, not a privilege.

@UNESCO @UNHumanRights @USTreasury @OFAC @ETS

[Melina Shadi @MelinaShadi]

@zara140769 باورنکردنیه!

[Melina Shadi @MelinaShadi]

My whole perspective on life shifted when I realized that things might not be as hard as they seem and that perhaps I'm just not quite there yet.

And that's okay. I can always try again!