Global day of action

MEDIA RELAESE – COMMUNIQUE

UNITED4IRAN
GREENSCROLL
Time: 17:00 - 19:00
Date : Saturday 25th July 2009
Location: Place du Trocadéro

Time: 19:00 - 21:00
Date : Saturday 25th July 2009
Location: Champ de Mars: “Mur de la
Paix”

Two vital events are taking place in Paris back to back on Saturday 25th July. The first is an important show of international support for the Iranian people and the second is a move, unseen in the thirty year history of the Islamic Republic, whereby many thousands of Iranians have come together throughout the world to protest the injustices in Iran.

Global Day of Action – “United for Iran”
www.united4iran.com
An unprecedented wave of global citizen activism in solidarity with the people of Iran: Human rights activists are organizing a coordinated Global Day of Action on July 25, 2009 to demand respect for the human rights of the Iranian people and to demonstrate worldwide solidarity with the civil rights movement in Iran On July 25, many will participate in an event in one of more than 60 cities around the world. In Paris many will gather at Place du Trocadéro.
Nobel Peace Laureates, prominent Iranian poets & artists, and many others support the global day of action (alphabetical): Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Amnesty International, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Betty Williams, Dariush, FIDH, Frontline, Human Rights Watch, International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Iranian League for Defense of Human Rights (LDDHI), Iranian Writers Association (in Exile), Ismael Khoii, Jody Williams, Mairead Maguire, Maz Jobrani, Nobel Women's Initiative, PeaceJam, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), Reporters without Borders , Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Sean Penn, Shirin Ebadi, Simin Behbahani, The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI)


At the end of the “United for Iran” rally many will descend from the Trocadéro to the Champ de Mars, to join others in front of the Mur de la Paix* (‘Peace Wall’) for:

The Unveiling of the Longest Protest Banner in the World
www.greenscroll.info


The longest protest scroll in the world will be unveiled in Paris in a silent ceremony in solidarity with the “Green Wave” movement in Iran, and in protest to the fraudulent Ahmadinejad victory of the June 12th presidential election in Iran. In a spontaneous and unprecedented action many thousands of Iranians around the world organised themselves to let the world know, ‘Ahmadinejad is NOT Iran’s president’.

FACTS
The scrolls which are still arriving in Paris are being sewn together to make the longest protest scroll in the world. Some photos of signings are available on http://www.flickr.com/photos/green-scroll and numerous videos can be found on Youtube by searching “Green Scroll”.

§ Almost two kilometres in length now,
§ 190 cities participated around the globe
§ Signatures gathered in three days last week.
§ The scroll will tour the globe.
§ Paris is its first unveiling.
Background
On June 12th 2009 the Islamic Republic of Iran held its tenth presidential elections. With an overwhelming participation of 82% it had one of the highest voter turn-outs in the thirty year history of the Islamic Republic. This was a big clear YES for Change.

As the world has witnessed, throughout Iran millions of Iranians protested peacefully and in silence to get their stolen votes back. “Where is my Vote” became the motto on everyone’s lips. The world watched in horror when for two weeks, peaceful protesters were attacked brutally with knives, clubs and live ammunition. We all saw the tragic dying moments of ‘Neda’ as her puzzled gaze asked ‘WHY?’. Thousands of unidentified people remain in detention and held in degrading and inhumane conditions, with reports of the widespread use of torture by those who have been released; many who are injured have not sought medical treatment for fear of arrest by the security police present at hospitals. According to official figures 27 people have been killed - yet, and as events unfold, activists in and out of Iran are documenting far higher numbers of deaths.

With Iranian journalists in detention and the foreign press expelled, citizen journalism has taken a new meaning and films of the atrocities are still arriving for the world to see on YouTube and Facebook. In recognition of the importance of the flow of news the U.S. State Department requested that Twitter delay a scheduled maintenance to suit the Iranian time zone and President Obama took a live question from an Iranian cyber journalist during a White House press conference. Ordinary members of public remain in detention, human rights activists remain in detentions, politicians, writers, journalists remain in detention and now lawyers who have been representing the missing and the detained are also being arrested. The arrests are on-going …

With this backdrop, abroad the Iranian community, as well as, numerous other citizens concerned for human rights have organised themselves in order that the voice of a people which the Iranian authorities are attempting to smother at all costs be heard.

The idea of signing the longest political petition scroll in the world captured the imagination of Iranians outside Iran and became a global movement. The green scroll also carries the names of those within Iran who could not gather signatures freely to send to Paris.


CONTACTS

UNITED4IRAN
International Coordinator: Hadi Ghaemi (English/Persian) hadighaemi@iranhumanrights.org

Event Organiser: Behi: (French/Persian) +33 614 55 34 66
whereismyvote2@gmail.com
Hugo: (French/English) +33 612 38 36 42

Green Scroll
International Coordinator: Ali Tehrani (English/Persian) +33 628 21 70 09
atehrani@gmail.com

Event Organiser: Soudeh RAD (French/Persian) +33 628 21 70 09
soudeh.rad@gmail.com

*Mur de La Paix: Designed & built by Clara Halter et Jea-Michel Wilmott.
With sincere gratitude for theri permission and cooperation in the realisation of these two events
We cannot remain silent in the face of what is happening in Iran!
We would like to emphasise that
the Gatherings are not organised in support of any candidate and by no political parties
Paris Organising Committee: http://whereismyvote.fr

END Wednesday, 22 July 2009