A brutal campaign of arrests, torture and executions is now taking place in Iran. This is an emergency. The lives and dignity of hundreds of political prisoners are in imminent, mortal danger. 

All those who stand for justice and yearn for a better world must rally to the cause of freeing Iran’s political prisoners NOW.  

Beginning in October 2020, the Islamic Republic of Iran(IRI) launched a massive new wave of arbitrary arrests against labor, women's, and human rights activists; dissident intellectuals and artists; protesters and revolutionaries; and members of religious and oppressed minorities.

Many are now being tortured, held in solitary confinement, and denied legal rights, assistance or medical aid, as the IRI attempts to force "confessions,” conducts sham “trials,” and carries out brutal floggings.

Amnesty International has condemned Iran, which executed 246 people in 2020 and perhaps more in 2021, for using the death penalty as “a weapon of political repression.” This regime has a blood-stained record of attempting to violently crush any form of dissent or resistance — including sudden mass executions of political prisoners as happened in 1988.

Importantly, this repression has been met with inspiring heroism

Many prisoners, their families, supporters and various Iranian organizations have been speaking out and demanding freedom for ALL Iran’s political prisoners—at great risk to their own safety.

The Iranian Writers Association has denounced the execution of prisoners of conscience, even as it is under extreme repression. After being imprisoned for over five years, human rights defender Narges Mohammadi was again imprisoned, sentenced to another eight years and 74 lashes. The persecution of attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh (subject of documentary film NASRIN)and other defiant defense lawyers is an example of this nightmare of detentions and this implacable spirit of resistance.

Iran’s political prisoners face a dire and life-threatening emergency

A number of dual nationals from Europe, Australia and theU.S. are being held in the “political ward” of the notorious Evin prison in Tehran. For example, Nahid Taghavi, an Iranian-German citizen, was kept in solitary confinement for 194 days, and interrogated 80 different times. Mehran Raoof, a British-Iranian citizen and labor rights activist, was held in solitary confinement for eight months which is broadly understood as torture.

Women prisoners, such as Sepideh Gholian and others, are increasingly transferred to more remote prisons, limiting access by their families and lawyers. Many members of the Bah’ai faith and the Kurdish and Baluch peoples are being targeted.

All of Iran's political prisoners must be unconditionally and immediately released

The governments of the U.S. and Iran act from their national interests. And, in this instance, we the people of the U.S. and Iran, along with the people of the world, have OUR shared interests, as part of getting to a better world: to unite to defend the political prisoners of Iran.In the U.S., we have a special responsibility to unite very broadly against this vile repression by the IRI, and to actively oppose any war moves by the U.S. government that would bring even more unbearable suffering to the people of Iran.

We demand of the Islamic Republic of Iran: FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS NOW!

We say to the U.S government: NO THREATS OR WAR MOVES AGAINST IRAN, LIFT U.S. SANCTIONS!