Two urgent appeals for Iran

Amnesty International has issued today an urgent appeal to show the Iranian authorities that the world is still watching:

After the disputed election results of 12 June, hundreds of thousands of Iranians took to the streets of Tehran and other cities to protest. But in Iran, expressing your opinions can be dangerous - dozens were arrested and by the end of last week Amnesty had recorded at least 10 deaths. On Friday, the situation was further inflamed when, rather than appealing for the security forces to exercise restraint, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, declared that further protest would not be tolerated - effectively condoning the violent actions of the security forces.

This did not deter more demonstrations on Saturday - defiant and courageous people are continuing to exercise their right to peacefully assemble and express their dissent. As we have seen, they are doing so despite great personal risk.

Amnesty has issued an Urgent Action appeal in support for the people of Iran and the right to peaceful protest and freedom of expression - please show theym that the world is still watching and e-mail the Iranian Ambassador in the UK

The second appeal is from exiled Iranian writers to the writers of the world:

People's outcry for freedom is a reaction to 30 years of suppression of their freedom of speech and the repression of their human rights. Their cry calls on all freedom-loving people, democratic institutions and governments to unite in condemning the latest anti-democratic actions of the Iranian regime.

We, the Iranian writers, who have witnessed numerous acts of injustice by the Islamic Republic aimed at suppressing the most basic human rights of our people, and who subsequently live in exile or migration while standing together with the honorable Iranian people (especially the intelligent youth who are voicing, in the most peaceful manner, their demands for freedom, social justice and democracy in Iran) appeal to you, the writers and scholars of the world, to help them by demanding an immediate end to the Islamic Republic's widespread suppression of the Iranian people

Kader Abdola, Reza Aghnami, Reza Alamezadeh, Reza Baraheni, Roshanak Bigonah, VazrikSahakian, Mehdi Estedadi Shad, Ali Asghar Hajsedjavadi, Hassan Hesam, Ahmmad KarimiHakkak, Mansour Khaksar, Nasim Khaksar, Mansour Koushan, Abbas Maroufi, FereshteMolavi, Bagher Momeni, Ali Negahban, Partou Noriala, Majid Naficy, Shahrnoush Parsipour, Koshiar Parsi, Mehrangiz Rasapour, Monir Ravanipour, Akbar Sardozami, Faraj Sarkohi, AsadSeif, Behrouz Sheida, Mohssen Yalfani, Ali Zarin, Naser Zeraati.