Signatories of Statement 14 and Their Families Call for Release of Political Prisoners

Fifteen family members and signatories of the famous Statement 14 (a call for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s resignation and constitutional reform) have demanded the unconditional release of political prisoners, including imprisoned signatories of this statement, as the anniversary of its publication approaches.

The signatories of the statement, a copy of which was also sent to Voice of America, note that as the third year since the publication of this statement begins, several of its signatories remain imprisoned, including Mohammad Nourizad, Giti Poorfarzal, Reza Mehrgan, and Zahra Jamali in Evin Prison, and Hashem Khavastegar, Mohammad Hossein Sepehri, and Kamal Jafari Yazdi in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, as “victims of injustice.”

The signers of this letter, which includes names such as Zoroaster Ahmadi Ragib, Sheila Entesari, Sheila Jahanbeen, and Javad Laalpour, signatories of Statement 14 and families of Mohammad Nourizad, Mohammad Hossein Sepehri, and Hashem Khavastegar, state: “We demand the unconditional freedom of our companions and loved ones and consider freedom of expression, opposition, criticism, and protest against tyranny as legal and constitutional rights of ourselves and all Iranian citizens.”

The statement continues: “Imprisoning conscious and freedom-loving activists is a violation of citizenship rights and contrary to human rights laws, and the ruling regime is obligated to cease lawlessness and tyranny, and unconditionally release our dignified political prisoners, including the detained loved ones of Statement 14.”

In June 2019, fourteen political and civil activists released a statement addressed to Khamenei calling for his resignation and amendment of Iran’s constitution. They stated that the current constitution had created “a ceremonial parliament, a powerless government, and an independent judiciary.” In mid-August of the same year, fourteen female civil rights activists, considering the inequalities and problems facing women in Iran, released a letter calling for moving beyond the Islamic Republic and drafting a new constitution.

The security officials of the Islamic Republic accused the signatories of these letters of attempting to “engineer a new sedition” and arrested many signatories of both letters. Some were temporarily released after a period of time, while others remain in detention.