Letter from 20 human rights organizations to Joe Biden: Counter the suppression of popular protests in Iran

HRANA News Agency – A group of human rights activists in Iran, along with 19 human rights organizations, in a joint letter to the US President, called for further confrontation with the suppression of popular protests in Iran by the country's authorities.

According to HRANA News Agency, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, 20 human rights organizations issued a joint statement to the US President, calling on him to confront the suppression of popular protests in Iran by the country's authorities.

In their letter to Joe Biden, these organizations mentioned the death of Mahsa Amini while in custody; widespread nationwide protests and strikes in response to this issue have taken place in at least 103 cities and towns in all 31 provinces of Iran; protests that have so far led to the killing of dozens of protesters and the injury of a large number of demonstrators.

Part of the letter states: Thousands of citizens, including journalists, civil activists, and artists, have been arrested during the recent nationwide protests, some of whom are being persecuted and tortured in prison.

These organizations, while referring to the killing of dozens of citizens during the popular protests on Friday, October 29, in Zahedan, stated in their letter: Protesting students at Tehran's Sharif University of Technology were surrounded by military-security forces for hours in their university building and parking lot. The officers opened fire on them and a number of them were arrested en masse.

The letter also states: Nika Shakerami, a 16-year-old teenager from Khorramabad, was killed by officers in Tehran during public protests and her lifeless body disappeared for a while. This is while many deaths, injuries, and arrests may remain hidden from public knowledge due to the “internet blackout.”

These human rights organizations called on the US President to sanction Iran’s moral security police. They called on Mr. Biden, as “the world’s leading democratic power,” to express sympathy and support for the women and protesters in Iran, because the Iranian people need the support of the US and the entire international community in the coming circumstances.

Other demands from these human rights organizations from the US President include a request to investigate the crimes committed by the Iranian government in response to popular protests at the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a request for Iranian authorities to respect the basic rights of their citizens, and a review and reconsideration of the sanctions that have led to restrictions on Iranian citizens' access to the Internet.

Finally, they pointed out that the suppression of popular protests in Iran, the killing of protesters, and the shutdown of the internet during nationwide protests were unprecedented, and called on Mr. Biden to take the necessary steps in this regard before a new generation of Iranian citizens is exposed to the oppression and suffering of previous generations.

The names of the human rights organizations that signed this statement are as follows:

1. Abdolrahman Boroumand Foundation

2. Article 19

3. Association for Human Rights of the Azerbaijani People in Iran (Aharz)

4. Baloch activists' campaign

5. Iranian Human Rights Organization

6. Committee to Protect Journalists

7. Human Rights Activists Group (in Iran)

8. First, human rights

9. Human Rights Foundation

10. Iranian Human Rights Documentation Center

11. Justice for Iran

12. Kurdistan Human Rights Association – Geneva (KMMK-G)

13. Kurdish Human Rights Organization

14. American Pen

15. Middle East Democracy Project

16. Raoul Wallenberg Human Rights Center

17. Rasnak

18. Siamak Pourzand Foundation

19. Ally for Iran

20. The United Nations and the Unrepresented People (UNPO)

Source: HRANA