In recent weeks, the head of the Islamic Republic regime in Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (the IRGC) have launched an unrelenting assault on the rights and freedoms of women in Iran (Project Light). They arrest unveiled women at metro stations, scrutinise the clothing and veils of female students at university entrances, and prevent them from entering universities. Officers on board the newly dispatched Morality Police vans, as part of the regime’s Project Light, harass and arrest women on the streets, sometimes sexually assaulting them. Amidst this atmosphere of terror, the Isfahan court which sentenced three innocent young men from the Isfahan House to death (Majid Kazemi, Saeed Yaghoubi, Saleh Mirhashemi), has now sentenced the prominent Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi to death for his song lyrics and for merely participating in the peaceful Woman Life Freedom protests.

Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. For a regime that has a history of killing or imprisoning poets, writers, and filmmakers, committing another crime comes as no surprise.

The escalating pressure on women, the death sentence of Toomaj, and the confirmation of the executions of Reza Rasaei, Mojahed Kourkour, Abbas Deris, along with the numerous others facing the death penalty, are clear indications of the regime’s fear in the face of the Iranian people's righteous anger. However, we stand united in this anger and refuse to back down. This regime has lost all legitimacy, and Iran has embarked on a new path towards democracy and a secular government. There is no turning back until this goal is achieved.

On Sunday 28 April 2024 at 11am, we gather outside the Embassy of the Islamic Republic regime in Hataitai to declare our solidarity with Iranian women, with Toomaj, and with all prisoners of conscience in Iran.

Additionally, we call upon Western governments to take the following actions:

1. Strongly condemn the regime’s ongoing war on women and work together to recognise the Islamic Republic regime as a Gender Apartheid regime.
2. Strongly condemn the execution of protesters and pressure the Islamic Republic regime to abolish the death penalty and release all political prisoners.
3. Designate the IRGC as a terrorist organisation.
4. Expel agents of the Islamic Republic regime and their families from your countries.

Hope sustains us in our struggle. The power of the powerless will ultimately triumph over the followers of lies and crime, and a new Iran will emerge. Until that day, we will neither forgive nor forget the sponsors and perpetrators of crimes against the children of Iran.

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