Letter from Iranian Former Political Prisoners, Writers, Scholars, Activists

written by | September 4, 2026

We, the undersigned former Iranian political prisoners, activists, writers, artists, intellectuals, academic scholars, researchers, and members of civil society within Iran and in exile, stand resolutely in support of the open letter published in The Guardian on 20 August 2026, “To Iran’s Political Prisoners, Trapped ‘Between Two Blades of A Scissors.”

Its core principle is clear: the Iranian people must not be forced to choose between external military and economic aggression and state repression. We echo its call to immediately halt executions, release all political prisoners, end the war, and end the collective punishment of the Iranian people. We commend the signatories’ historic act to build solidarity with the Iranian people by foregrounding the struggle of political prisoners directly subjected to state repression.

Employing the metaphor of “two blades of a scissors” to describe the predicament of Iranians facing both war and state repression does not suggest moral or political equivalence. To acknowledge and condemn multiple forms and sources of violence is not to erase their origins or conflate their intentions. Rather, this metaphor centers the lived reality of those trapped between irreconcilable pressures. The binary logic that demands exclusive allegiance to either the Islamic Republic or imperialist powers is both philosophically unsound and ethically impoverished. Moral clarity lies not in collapsing distinctions, but in refusing to let one form of domination justify another. True solidarity rejects the false dilemma of choosing between injustices; it demands opposition to all systems of repression and oppression that ensnare the vulnerable.

The signatories of the letter have compellingly argued that a state may be both the object of external aggression and the agent of internal repression; these truths must be held together. Iran’s history is marked by foreign intervention–including the Russian-backed bombardment of the Iranian parliament after the 1908 Constitutional Revolution, the CIA-MI6-orchestrated 1953 coup, and more recent sanctions and the current US-Israeli war against Iran. It is also marked by state repression before and after the 1979 Revolution – including political imprisonment, executions, forced veiling as a form of gender apartheid, censorship, suppression of civil society and religious minorities, and the systemic oppression of Kurds, Baluchis, Arabs, and Turks of Iran. Years of systemic repression and the persecution of civil movements, unions, and activists inside Iran have effectively made the possibility of any structural and transformative political change from within the country exceedingly difficult.

Recognizing and condemning this dual reality is crucial: the suffering of the prisoners is not diminished by the predicament of their jailer, nor can their rights be rendered contingent on geopolitics. Justice, freedom, and democracy, therefore, cannot be postponed or sacrificed in the name of the regime’s so-called “anti-imperialist resistance” against external forces.

To those who consider the Islamic Republic the only force to support the Palestinian cause in the region, we must clarify: long before the Islamic Republic, the Iranian left played a central role in building networks of solidarity with progressive Palestinians, a legacy rooted in anti-colonial struggle and internationalism that did not start with the establishment of the Islamic Republic. This same leftist movement was the first victim of severe repression after the 1979 Revolution. The mass execution of political prisoners in the summer of 1988 has been documented by numerous former Iranian political prisoners, scholars, and human rights organizations and amounts to a crime against humanity.

We reject the instrumentalization of Iranian suffering, whether as justification for foreign military intervention or as an excuse for domestic repression. Iranian lives must not be manipulated for propaganda by any ideological camp. The domestic laws of a sovereign state that result in the criminalization of protest and dissent, coerced confessions, sham trials, and the summary execution of prisoners without evidence are not a sign of the legitimacy of those laws, but rather a testament to their injustice, and must be opposed.

“Resistance” that turns a blind eye to the struggle of political prisoners is not worthy of that name. We stand in solidarity with all who resist domination, oppression, and imperialist wars.

In Solidarity,

List of Signatories In Alphabetical Order

  1. Frieda Afary, writer, translator, librarian, Los Angeles, California, USA
  2. Janet Afary, Professor of History, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
  3. Mona Afary, Clinical Director at Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants, USA
  4. Amir Ahmadi Arian, writer, Professor of Creative Writing, Binghamton University, USA, Iran
  5. Hamid Akbari, Audrey Reynolds Professor Emeritus of Management, University of Chicago, Illinois, USA
  6. Hossein Akbari, former political prisoner, writer, labor-union researcher, Iran
  7. Reza Akrami, former political prisoner, political activist, France
  8. Kazem Alamdari, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, California State University, USA
  9. Aida Amidi, former political prisoner, poet, Iran
  10. Batoul Arasteh, human rights activist, France
  11. Shahrzad Arshadi, filmmaker, playwright, Canada
  12. Maryam Ashrafi, photographer, social activist, France
  13. Touraj Atabaki, Professor Emeritus of the Social History of the Middle East and Central Asia, Leiden University, Netherlands
  14. Sanaz Azimipour, gender rights activist and writer, German
  15. Pouyesh Azizeddin, researcher in technology and human rights, Slovenia
  16. Ali Banuazizi, Professor of Political Science, Boston University, USA
  17. Monireh Baradaran, former political prisoner, human rights activist, writer, Germany
  18. Nora Bayani, women’s rights activist, USA
  19. Mansoureh Behkish, leftist feminist activist, former political prisoner, member of the Families of Khavaran, Germany
  20. Alireza Behnam, poet, translator, journalist, Iran
  21. Alireza Behtoui, Professor of Sociology, Södertörn University, Sweden
  22. Atena Daemi, former political prisoner, human rights activist, Canada
  23. Mehrdad Darvishpour, sociologist, Associate Professor, senior lecturer in Social Work at Mälardalen University, Sweden
  24. Armen Davoudian, poet, translator, Stanford University, USA
  25. Amin Feizpour, Founder and Director of “Iran Circle”, USA
  26. Parastou Forouhar, artist, social activist, Germany
  27. Halleh Ghorashi, professor of social sciences, Vrije University, Netherlands
  28. Barbad Golshiri, artist, social activist, France
  29. Mohammad Habibi, spokesperson for Iran’s Teachers’ Trade Association Council, Iran
  30. Hadi Hiyali, former political prisoner, writer, Iran
  31. Ali Hojat, former political prisoner, retired graphic designer, USA
  32. Homa Hoodfar, women’s rights activist, Professor Emeritus of Women’s Studies, Concordia University, Canada
  33. Asghar Izadi, former political prisoner, political activist, Germany
  34. Guissou Jahangiri, former Secretary-General of the International Federation for Human Rights, women’s rights defender, human rights activist, France
  35. Pouria Jahanshad, researcher in social sciences, Iran
  36. Milad Jannat, former political prisoner, poet, translator, Iran
  37. Aso Javaheri, feminist activist, PhD student, Simon Fraser University, Canada
  38. Mihan Jazani, political activist, France
  39. Fatan Jokar, former political prisoner, human rights activist, Finland
  40. Mehrangiz Kar, lawyer, women’s rights activist, USA
  41. Kazem Kardavani, social activist, researcher of social sciences, Germany
  42. Golshid Karimian, writer, researcher, Iran
  43. Sara Karimian, research Associate in Political Science, University of Sussex, England
  44. Nasser Khandabi, former political prisoner, Canada
  45. Reza Khandan, former political prisoner, writer, Iran
  46. Mina Khanlarzadeh, Professor of History, Deep Springs College, USA
  47. Nasim Khaksar, former political prisoner, novelist and writer, Netherlands
  48. Azam Khatam, women rights activist, editor in chief of Global Iranian Studies Review, University of Toronto, Canada
  49. Azar Khounani, Early Childhood Education Specialist, USA
  50. Amir Kianpour, writer and researcher, Paris, France
  51. Saeed Madani, former political prisoner, sociologist, Iran
  52. Ali Akbar Mahdi, Professor of Sociology, Ohio Wesleyan University, USA
  53. Chowra Makaremi, researcher in anthropology, CNRS, France
  54. Zaman Massoudi, political activist, Germany
  55. Mahnaz Matin, doctor, researcher and women’s rights activist, Franc
  56. Kamran Matin, professor of International Relations, University of Sussex, England
  57. Farzaneh Milani, Professor Emerita of Gender Studies, University of Virginia, USA
  58. Haideh Moghissi, Professor Emerita of Women’s Studies, York University, Canada
  59. Nasser Mohajer, advocate for the rights of political prisoners, researcher in Modern Iranian History, France
  60. Shahrzad Mojab, feminist activist, Professor Emeritus of Women’s Studies, University of Toronto, Canada
  61. Saeed Molaei, former political prisoner, social activist, Iran
  62. Esha Momeni, former political prisoner, lecturer of gender studies, University of California, Los Angeles, USA
  63. Shaghayegh Moradi, former political prisoner, human rights activist, Iran
  64. Manijeh Moradian, feminist activist, Professor of Women’s Studies, Barnard College, New York, USA
  65. Ghazaleh Motamed, set costume designer, feminist activist in the “Me Too” movement, France
  66. Negar Mottahedeh, Professor of Comparative Literature, Duke University, USA
  67. Hafez Mousavi, poet, writer, Iran
  68. Nima Naghibi, Professor of English Studies, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada
  69. Shiva Nazar Ahari, former political prisoner, founding board member and spokesperson of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, Slovenia
  70. Mohammad Reza Nikfar, philosopher, Germany
  71. Farhad Nomani, Professor Emeritus of Economics, American University of Paris, France
  72. Kambiz Norouzizadeh, former political prisoner, human rights activist, Iran
  73. Nader Ossareh, former political prisoner, political essayist, France
  74. Saeed Paivandi, sociologist, Director of the LISEC Research Center, University of Lorraine, France
  75. Pouya Pour-Amin, former political prisoner, composer, sound designer, Norway
  76. Nazanin Pouyandeh, painter, France
  77. Anahita Rahmani, former political prisoner, Canada
  78. Saeed Rahnema, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, York University, Canada
  79. Hossein Razzagh, former political prisoner, political activist, Germany
  80. Abdollah Rezaei, former political prisoner, teachers’ union activist, Iran
  81. Mona Roshan, former political prisoner, Canada
  82. Somayeh Rostampour, researcher of social sciences, Kurdish feminist activist, France
  83. Mihan Rousta, advocate for the rights of political prisoners, member of a family of people executed in the 1980s, Germany
  84. Ali Sabouri, former political prisoner, poet, Iran
  85. Khosrow Sadeghi Boroujeni, writer, journalist, Iran
  86. Shadi Sadr, former political prisoner, international human rights lawyer
  87. Shokoufeh Sakhi, former political prisoner, Lecturer in Gender Studies, University of Toronto, Canada
  88. Hossein Sarbandi, former political prisoner, political activist, Iran
  89. Parisa Sardashti, writer, feminist activist, France
  90. Nastaran Saremy, feminist and environmental activist, PhD student, Simon Fraser University, Canada
  91. Faraj Sarkohi, former political prisoner, journalist, Germany
  92. Khashayar Sefidi, former political prisoner, student movement activist, Iran
  93. Asad Seif, writer, researcher, Germany
  94. Siyavash Shahabi, journalist, social activist, Greece
  95. Fatemeh Shams, poet, feminist activist, Professor of Literature, University of Pennsylvania, USA
  96. Mansoureh Shojaee, former political prisoner, writer, women’s rights activist, Netherlands
  97. Roozbeh Sohani, former political prisoner, poet, Iran
  98. Nasim Soltanbeygi, journalist, Iran
  99. Amir Soltani, writer, social activist, advocate for political prisoners, USA
  1. Nahid Taghavi, former political prisoner, women’s rights activist, Germany
  2. Jinoos Taghizadeh, activist, visual artist, Canada
  3. Mona Tajali, women’s rights activist, researchere in Women’s Studies, Stanford University, USA
  4. Manijeh Tam, cultural activist, France
  5. Taghi Tam, former political prisoner, reired, France
  6. Nayereh Tohidi, women’s righs activist, Professor Emeritus of Women’s Studies, California State Univerity, USA
  7. Mehrdad Vahabi, Professor of Economics, Sorbonne Paris North University,researcher at Paris Dauhine University, FRance
  8. Saeed Yousef, former political prisoner, poet, Germany
  9. Shirin Zakeri, researcher, adjunct professor of Iranian Studies, Sapienza University, Italy,
  10. Sara Zeri, poet , critic, labor rights activist, Iran

 

Link to the publication of the Persian text of the letter:

https://akhbar-rooz.com/2026/09/04/63838/