IOHR protest the Iranian embassy in London for freedom and human rights.

A protest outside the Iranian embassy organized by the International Observatory of Human Rights to support the release of Nasrin Sotoudeh took place on 17th April. The IOHR are advocating to improve human rights in Iran. At the protest women from the IOHR and affiliated companies lined the street outside the embassy with a white cloth stretching the length of the street. The cloth represented the hijab which must be worn by all women in Iran, by holding the white cloth they wanted to express their unity with the women facing jail time and sentences of lashes for removing their hijab.

"Give women a choice" - Valerie Paey

Valerie paey led the protest with the chants ‘Give women a choice’ and ‘free Nazrin’. There were police guarding the entrance of the Iranian embassy where Valerie had attempted to enter however the police would not allow her to and rather delivered her letter to the embassy for her. After Valerie was blocked from only putting a letter through the door the protest resumed.

Soon afterwards of the two police officers guarding the embassy came to break up the protest. The Iranian foreign minister failed to make an appearance. Valerie Paey the director of the IOHR spoke about the action taken from the UK and EU. “In Belgium one of the universities said you can’t send students here anymore because you have one of our professors” referring the professor Ahmadreza Djalali who has been

sentenced to death in Iran on suspicion of espionage.

#WhiteWednesdays is movement started by journalist Masih Alinejad for the same cause, Valerie Paey at the protest removed her veil in support of women who have been convicted and sentenced to lashes for removing their hijabs in Iran.

Signs and boards with images of Nasrin Sotoudeh, human rights lawyer amended by the European Union was sentenced to 38 years and 148 lashes also Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe who was sentenced to five years.

#humanitarian #feature