“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere…” (Martin Luther King Jr)
Life in Iran means constantly having to look over your shoulder, lest you should be attacked or arrested by police and security forces.
The fundamentalist and misogynist regime aims to control the people by instilling fear. Women and Youth are the foremost victims of human rights abuses in the country. They most feel the effects of poverty, lack of job opportunities, legal status, and financial status.
Women
The government and authorities control all aspects of their lives: their clothing, their roles as mothers, wives, and daughters in the household, and their positions in the workplace and broader society.
Women and girls are under constant watch from the so-called ‘morality police, ’ whose sole purpose is to ensure that women and girls act per the misogynist laws of the regime.
As a result, they often have half the rights of their male counterparts and face severe systematic discrimination and violation of their rights.
How can we help them?
Their once-silenced voices must be heard. We offer counselling services and befriending to women in need so they can talk about their experiences and try to work through them. In turn, this provides an opportunity to educate others about women’s rights abuses, which still occur today.
Many of the refugee women we meet and work with in the UK have fled from the most horrific situations in their home land. Many still bear the physical and mental scars of their ordeal.
Youth
Iran is home to some of the brightest students and greatest intellectuals; however, due to both lack of job security as well as risk of persecution, more and more are leaving the country in search of work and a better life.
Female students have been prevented from entering their university campus, even on exam days, because their hijabs are deemed improper.
Male students, who later in life become the breadwinners of their families, struggle to find work in an ever-shrinking jobs market.
How can we help them?
We provide opportunities for young people to connect with their community in a meaningful way through social and educational gatherings and team-building activities designed to highlight and showcase their strengths.
Many young migrants arrive in the UK looking for a fresh start and to make good use of the opportunities presented to them. We must encourage them to become the best versions of themselves so that they do not fall into negative patterns of behaviour, for instance, violence or fundamentalist ideologies, which could hinder their progress in society.
Political Prisoners
How can we help them?
Inspired is dedicated to upholding and promoting the Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as mandated by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
As such, we aim to expose the violations of human rights endured by political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Iran.
To do this, we organise and attend seminars, conferences, and exhibitions at home in the UK and abroad in Europe and North America, where we can spread awareness about these atrocities to the public and officials.
Political Prisoners and Prisoners of Conscience in Iran are detained purely for their want of human rights. This usually means they have participated in peaceful protests or workers’ and students’ strikes.
As a result, the police attack them in the streets, arrest them and transfer them to the cells of Iran’s prisons where they endure the worst physical and mental torture.
They are denied access to legal representation and are given fabricated charges, which lead to long prison sentences. Their sentence may even be extended at the discretion of the judiciary.
Stop Executions
How can we help them?
We must spread awareness about these daily atrocities. Inspired is committed to advocating on behalf of prisoners who have been sentenced to be executed
This has been an ongoing issue since the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran. Since then there has been an international movement to prevent another massacre.
We can bring these cases to the attention of politicians, media, and other human rights bodies. By highlighting this through rallies, conferences, and exhibitions, we can advocate on their behalf on the international stage and hopefully save their lives.
Executions are the main tools of oppression in Iran. Those most at risk are protesters and campaigners, as well as former political prisoners and their families.
Prisoners are denied legal counsel and are tortured into giving forced confessions.
They are transferred to different prisons without their families being told and in many cases, their bodies are not released to their families.
