More than 100 key figures from the UK film and TV industry have signed a letter urging the UK government to take “immediate action” against Iranian authorities for “gross violations of human rights and women’s rights” in their response to the wave of public protests that erupted last year.
The industry leaders, including Barbara Broccoli, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and Edgar Wright, are calling for the UK government to “actively campaign to stop the violence used against the protesters in Iran, including an immediate stop to all executions” and “demand the release of all political prisoners in Iran.”
“Enough is enough. If the global community, which the UK is an active and influential member of, does not act firmly, these atrocities will continue,” the letter reads. “We need to sincerely support the people of Iran in their fight for justice and freedom.”
The letter was organized by British-Iranian filmmaker Babak Anvari (Under the Shadow) and is the latest widescale international campaign against the Iranian government’s violent crackdown on public protests following the death of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in September.
Amini died in police custody on September 16 after being arrested for not wearing her hijab in accordance with the country’s strict religious laws. Police say she died of a heart attack, but eyewitnesses and people who were detained with the young woman said she was severely beaten.
According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, at least 500 demonstrators have been killed by government forces to date, 69 of them under the age of 18 years old.
Earlier this week, the Eiffel Tower in France was lit up with messages of support for protesters in Iran. The slogan “Femme, Vie, Liberte,” which has been a popular chant with protesters and translates to “Women, Life, Freedom,” was seen on the landmark in Paris.
Read the letter to the UK parliament and the list of signatories below:
Dear Members of Parliament,
It has now been four months since the protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini have swept over Iran. The Iranian people are bravely resisting the draconian laws enforced upon them by the Islamic Republic regime and want an end to decades of oppression.
In response, the Iranian authorities have enacted a brutal and violent crackdown of the protests. Well over 500 people have been killed, including at least 70 children (the reported figure), and around 19,000 people have now been arrested and jailed. Many of the imprisoned protesters are being violently tortured, and kangaroo courts are hastily putting many on death row – a number of these prisoners have tragically been executed over the last month. Only a few days ago Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini were executed despite global calls to quash their death sentences – in the case of Karami, he was not even allowed to meet his family for the last time.
And some of the imprisoned protesters are fellow artists and creatives such as actor Hossein Mohammadi (currently on death row) and rap artist Toomaj Salehi (who is reportedly in bad physical condition due to repeated torture), to name only a few.
Enough is enough. If the global community, which the UK is an active and influential member of, does not act firmly, these atrocities will continue. We need to sincerely support the people of Iran in their fight for justice and freedom. Therefore, we, the undersigned, ask the members of the UK parliament:
. To take immediate action and urge the UK government to hold the regime in Iran accountable for their gross violations of human rights and women’s rights.
. To actively campaign to stop the violence used against the protesters in Iran, including an immediate stop to all executions.
. To demand the release of all political prisoners in Iran.
The ongoing oppression of the freedom-loving people of Iran needs to stop.
Thank you,
Babak Anvari, Gabriel Bisset-Smith, Jodie Whittaker, Christian Contreras, Michelle Dockery, Jack Rooke, Susan Wokoma, Nicola Coughlan, Dominic Buchanan, Matilda Feyiṣayọ Ibini, Brett Goldstein, Lucan Toh, Corin Hardy, Rachel Tunnard, Sir Jonathan Pryce, Will Hollinshead, Kat Buckle, Olivia Colman, Ed Sinclair, Tom Mison, Deborah Frances-White, Anita Asante, Vijay Mistry, Simon Rix, Juliet Stevenson, Niamh Algar, Hugh Bonneville, Dominic Cooke, Iain Glen, David Morrissey, Richard Curtis, Isobel Waller-Bridge, Gillian Anderson, Humphrey Hendrix, Livi Shean, Richard Eyre, Dominic Dromgoole, Robert Cawsey, Felicity Jones, David Farr, Lucy Tcherniak, Martin McDonagh, Jessie Buckley, George MacKay, Omid Djalili, Lucian Msamati, Joe Cole, Paapa Essiedu, Valene Kane, Varada Sethu, Alex Lawther, Yasemin Kay Allen, Noof Ousellam, Hayat Kamille, Prasanna Puwanarajah, Morven Christie, Louise Brealey, Wilf Scolding, Esh Alladi, Souad Faress, Jamie Bamber, Faye Marsay, Nazanin Boniadi, Emily Leo, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Serena Manteghi, Nadia Fall, Joplin Sibtain, Silvie Furneaux, Hayley Atwell, Edgar Wright, MyAnna Buring, Claire Wilson, Adam Townley, Lydia Wilson, Kosar Ali, Joseph Mawle, Percelle Ascott, Mecia Simson, Heather Agyepong, Stevie Grace Jackson, Oliver Lansley, Rupert Stonehill, Jessica Sykes, Mat Whitecross, Josh Dylan, Anya Chalotra, Andy Serkis, David Arnold, Sarah Solemani, Paul Andrew Williams, Kharmel Cochrane, Gonzalo Maza, Cyrus Massoudi, Barnaby Spurrier, Coky Giedroyc, Asif Kapadia, Rupert Lloyd, Edith Bowman, Paul Viragh, Polly Samson, David Gilmour, Barbara Broccoli, John Battsek, Michael Lesslie, Karina Fernandez
