Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi among speakers at event 

Event will begin with gathering at Marble Arch (midday), followed by march to Trafalgar Square where speeches will follow (3pm) 

‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ protest movement well into its fourth month in Iran

 

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi, human rights activist Elika Ashoori and Amnesty International UK Chief Executive Sacha Deshmukh will be among speakers at a rally in Trafalgar Square on Sunday (3pm) being staged in solidarity with protesters in Iran.

The event, organised by Iran campaign groups Voice of Iran and Justice Prevails, will mark the 115th day of nationwide ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ protests in Iran as well as three years since the shooting down of a passenger jet (flight PS752) over Tehran. 

The Iranian security forces have responded to the protests with widescale unlawful lethal force, killing hundreds of men, women and children. Thousands of people have been arbitrarily arrested - including journalists, human rights defenders, dissidents, university students and schoolchildren - and two have been executed after grossly unfair trials. Dozens - possibly hundreds - of others are at risk of a similar fate. 

Amnesty is demanding that the Iranian Embassy in the UK supports independent investigations into the deaths and mass arbitrary detention of civilians in Iran, as well as the repeal of harsh discriminatory laws that impose compulsory veiling on women and girls in the country. There have been widespread protests in Iran since the death in custody on 16 September of the 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini who was arrested in relation to the veiling laws.  

Sunday’s rally comes ahead of a House of Commons debate on 12 January on the situation in Iran and the treatment of protesters.

Details of event

WHO: Shirin Ebadi, Elika Ashoori and Sacha Deshmukh, plus leading artists and campaigners to be announced

 

WHAT: march and mass solidarity rally with speeches  

 

WHERE: gathering at Marble Arch (midday) in London, with march to Trafalgar Square 

 

WHEN: Sunday 8 January 2023, 12-4pm (speeches 3-4pm, with 4pm conclusion)