No to War and Violence
Yes to Peace and Freedom
We, a group of former political prisoners, as well as individuals who have been summoned, interrogated, and threatened by security forces, despite the deprivation and injustice imposed upon our fundamental civil and legal rights over the past 47 years, condemn the military aggression of the United States and Israel against Iran and its people.
The majority of the Iranian nation — those opposed both to colonialism and foreign intervention, as well as to domestic despotism — have endured more than seventy years of internal violence and repression, and are now once again subjected to war and foreign aggression. This war will not lead to democracy; rather, by inflicting severe damage upon infrastructure and human resources, it will deepen poverty even further and weaken civil society.
The path toward rescuing the country from its intertwined internal crises and the interference of foreign powers lies in creating the necessary conditions for the participation of all citizens, social groups, and inhabitants of this land in determining their own destiny and administering the affairs of the nation. It is self-evident that the continuation of current policies, which have eroded national capacity, will likewise yield no positive outcome in the future.
In this context, it is urgently necessary to address the dangerous policy of executions. Issuing death sentences against protesters — amid opaque judicial procedures and in violation of fair trial standards and due process, even within the framework of existing laws — along with unlawful confiscations of property, constitutes an entirely anti-national and inhumane act.
Last year’s street killings and this year’s executions have achieved nothing except widening the gulf between the people and the ruling establishment, while further fueling an atmosphere of violence and war — precisely the environment desired by Israel.
We call upon all Iranians and non-Iranians who become aware of this statement, both inside and outside the country, to convey by every possible means our strong protest against the aggression of the Trump administration, carried out in accordance with Netanyahu’s policies, to the people of the United States and Israel.
At the same time, we emphasize that the manner and timing of criticism, opposition, and protest by the people of Iran — and by us — toward the policies of the ruling establishment, despite being fundamental matters, are entirely internal issues and bear no relation whatsoever to foreign aggressors.
Finally, we stress that the nature of the governments carrying out aggression against our country is one of expanding domination and hegemony across the world. Likewise, a minority within the country seeks only the continuation of war and, in some cases, operates under the direction of ultra-hardline currents that conceal their political and economic interests beneath ideological rhetoric. Both sides are trapped in the illusion of destroying the other. The rest of the people, however — and even some within the state apparatus — seek an honorable and lasting peace grounded in national interests, territorial integrity, and the defense of Iran’s national identity: a civilization that nearly three thousand years ago was among the pioneers and heralds of peace and human rights in the world.
We, the former political prisoners, will continue to pursue a third path: saying no both to any form of foreign intervention and aggression, and to domestic authoritarianism.
Tuesday, 12 May 2026
Hashem Aghajari, Mehrdad Ahankhah, Mohammad Sadegh Akhoundi, Behzad Ahmadnia, Bahman Ahmadi Amouee, Alireza Ahmadi-Rad, Saeed Ardeshiri, Mehran Arzhang, Parya Esmaili, Mojan Ashrafi, Maryam Afrafraz, Ali Afshari, Mehdi Eghbal, Jalal Eghtedari, Omid Aghdami, Alireza Akbarzadegan, Morteza Alviri, Mostafa Badkoubeh-Hazavehei, Abolfazl Bazargan, Abdolali Bazargan, Mahmoud Bagheri, Mohammad Bagher Bakhtiar, Akbar Badi-Zadegan, Mojtaba Badiei, Farzaneh Bazrpour, Mohammad Hossein Bani-Asadi, Emad Bahavar, Amirhossein Behboudi, Jalal Bahrami, Seyed Alireza Beheshti Shirazi, Masoud Behnoud, Safa Bitaraf, Motahhareh Parsi, Habibollah Peyman, Mostafa Tanha, Farrokh Tavanaei-Pour, Mohammad Tavasoli, Majid Tavallayi, Zahra Jafari, Amirhossein Jahani, Amin Chalaki, Reza Haji, Younes Hajizadeh, Jamshid Haghgoo, Vahid Haghighi, Abolfazl Hakimi, Abdolkarim Hakimi, Majid Hakimi, Mohammadreza Hamsi, Hamid Khadem, Shabnam Khan-Mossadegh, Amir Khorram, Nasser Daneshfar, Javad Dardkeshan, Khosrow Delirthani, Mohammad Sadegh Rabbani-Rankouhi, Alireza Rajaei, Alireza Rajabian, Taghi Rahmani, Mohsen Rahmani, Fatemeh Rahmat, Raham Rahmati, Mohammad Sadegh Rasouli, Elham Rasouli, Zahra Rezaei, Ahad Rezaei, Hossein Rafiei, Roghayyeh Zarepour-Heidari, Kaveh Zahedi, Reza Sepehri, Isa Saharkhiz, Hossein Sarbandi, Mohammad Sarchami, Abbas Salimi, Hamed Siasi-Rad, Shahram Shah-Mohammadi, Mansoureh Shojaee, Ali Shariati, Reza Shahabi, Shadieh Shahidi, Majid Shie-Ali, Hashem Sabbaghian, Parviz Sedaghat, Reza Sadr, Ali Saffar-Harandi, Keyvan Samimi, Jalil Zarrabi, Farid Taheri, Ali Tarrah, Feyzollah Arab-Sorkhi, Behzad Arabgol, Rouyin Atoufat, Mohammad Bagher Alavi, Tahereh Alizadeh, Mahmoud Omrani, Ali-Asghar Gharavi, Alireza Gharavi, Majed Gharavi, Masih Gharavi, Mohammad Ali Ghaffarian, Ali Ghafrani, Farideh Gheirat, Reza Fani-Yazdi, Bagher Fathali-Beigi, Mehdi Fakhrzadeh, Ghaffar Farzadi, Maryam Ghods, Javad Ghorbanpour, Khosrow Qashqaei, Mahroo Qashqaei, Mohsen Qashqaei, Hojjat Gheyasi, Alireza Kazemi, Kazem Kordvani, Mohammad Karimi, Ali Kolaei, Ali Gorji, Fatemeh Gavarayi, Jafar Ganji, Mohammad Maljoo, Ehsan Malekipour, Masoud Manian, Mostafa Moheb-Kia, Mohammad Moheb-Kia, Fakhr al-Sadat Mohtashamipour, Jalal Mohammadalou, Saeed Mohammadi, Mehdi Mahmoudi, Mohammad Moradi, Neda Moradi, Minoo Mortazavi-Langaroudi, Matin Meskin, Masoud Meskin, Reza Masmouei, Leili Mostafavi, Mohammad Moslehi, Mohammad Javad Mozaffar, Mehdi Motamedi-Mehr, Majid Moghadam, Kazem Maleki, Azar Mansouri, Khosrow Mansourian, Reza Mahjour, Ali Mehrdad, Lotfollah Meisami, Abolfazl Najafi, Reza Nassaji, Parsa Nasiri, Hossein Nourani-Nejad, Mehdi Nourbakhsh, Ali Nikjou, Masoud Nikzadi, Mohammad Hadi Hadi-Zadeh Yazdi, Alireza Hindi, Rasoul Varpaei, Hossein Vafapour, Maryam Yahyavi, Hassan Yousofi Eshkevari.
