Support the right to protection for all Iranian asylum seekers in the UK

Facts about Iran:

There is no freedom of association, organization or speech.

There are no non-Islamic opposition parties, no trade unions, no women's organizations, no independent newspapers.

There are no union rights. No right to strike, Labor activists are suppressed.

Intellectual dissent and non-Islamic religious expression are suppressed. Atheism and secularism are punishable by death. Religious `cleansing` and suppression of non-Moslems is the norm, Baha'is are routed, Jewish people live in constant fear of fabricated charges of espionage for Israel. Christians are second -class citizens.

There is no right to a fair trial. No right to an attorney, no presumption of innocence, no limits to imprisonment without charge. Arbitrary arrests, torture, forced or fabricated confessions, and death in custody, are usual practice.

Children have no rights. Children are the property of their elders and the Islamic state. They send them to war, to work, to the gallows. 5 year olds work at furnaces. 9-year old girls may be legally married off. 13 year olds may be (and have been) legally condemned to death.

Homosexuals are executed. Pure and simple.

Women are 3rd class citizens. Sexual apartheid rules

Women are banned from a wide range of social, economic and political activities; Islamic veil is compulsory. Women are separated from men in buses, universities, and many public places. Husbands and fathers are their guardians, at home and outside. Women cannot travel, even within the country, without permission from their male guardians. They have no right to divorce, or custody of their children. The list is endless.

Whereas the human rights situation in Iran has systematically deteriorated; and violations of human rights is continually becoming worse and worse;
Whereas the British Home Office disregards the lives and safety of Iranian asylum seekers and imposes on them the nightmare of deportation to Iran;

Whereas the British government not only endangers the lives of human beings worthy of dignity, it also legitimizes a criminal regime. If the asylum request of Iranian asylum seekers is refused, it will be a huge political and human setback for modern society;

If the British government goes forward with its plan, opponents of dictatorship and repression will not be safe anywhere in the world.

We call on the on the Home Office to implement the following:

1- Iran under the Islamic Republic is not a safe country. No Iranian asylum seeker should be deported to Iran;

2- There should be an immediate stop to all detentions of Iranian asylum seekers. All those currently in detention in British prisons for the crime of seeking asylum should be freed;

3- Given the suppressive nature of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the British government must change its policy towards the Iranian asylum seekers and grant them asylum.