Put your name on the record

The solidarity ladder

Actions are listed from lowest to highest commitment. Most people start at the top; the measurable pressure comes from the lower rows, which are also the rows most often left undone.

Writing to a representative: what works

Ministries and parliamentary offices sort correspondence by specificity. A letter that names one person and asks for one measurable step is filed as a case; a letter expressing concern is filed as sentiment. Four elements make the difference:

• One name. A single prisoner, with the charge, the court, the sentence and the prison.
• One ask. A public statement naming the person; a summons of the ambassador; support for a specific designation or sanctions listing; a consular request in a dual-national case.
• One local hook. Why this matters in your constituency — a resident's relative, a university link, a twinned city, a diaspora community.
• One deadline. An execution date, a court hearing, a scheduled vote. Deadlines convert sympathy into scheduling.

Digital safety for people with family in Iran

Transnational repression is documented and routine: relatives inside Iran have been summoned, interrogated and barred from travel because of posts made by family members abroad. Reduce the surface area.

• Use a pseudonymous account for advocacy, separate from accounts carrying your real identity.
• Strip metadata from images and never post photographs of relatives, their homes or their workplaces.
• Do not announce travel to Iran, and do not discuss relatives' movements in public threads.
• Assume that direct messages on mainstream platforms can be compelled or compromised; use end-to-end encrypted messengers with disappearing messages for sensitive coordination.
• Report harassment and threats to local police and to the platform — several European states now record transnational repression as a distinct offence category.

Where to go next

The three live campaigns on this site — detainee advocacy, expulsion of Islamic Republic ambassadors and IRGC proscription — are set out with contact templates on the campaigns page. For classroom and community use, teaching materials and the printable poster are free to download. To understand what you are advocating about, the fifteen-minute briefing is the fastest complete overview.

Frequently asked questions

Does sharing a solidarity card actually help?

On its own, marginally. Its value is that it puts a specific name and a specific demand in front of an audience that would otherwise see nothing. Sharing works when it is attached to something actionable — a named prisoner, a scheduled vote, a rally date — rather than to a general statement of sympathy.

What is the single most effective thing I can do from abroad?

Adopt one prisoner. Learn the name, the charge, the prison and the lawyer; publish it repeatedly; write to your foreign ministry and your representative about that person by name. Individual cases with sustained international attention are measurably more likely to see sentences suspended or commuted than cases that are never named abroad.

Is it safe for me to share this if I have family in Iran?

Consider the risk carefully. Security services monitor diaspora accounts and have summoned relatives inside Iran over posts made abroad. Anonymous or pseudonymous accounts, no geotags, no photographs of relatives, and no naming of your home city reduce exposure. Nothing published publicly can be assumed private.

How do I avoid amplifying disinformation?

Check whether a named monitoring organisation — HRANA, Iran Human Rights, Amnesty International, the UN Fact-Finding Mission — has published the claim; check that footage is dated and locatable; and prefer sources that publish names over accounts that publish only totals. When in doubt, share the monitor's post rather than a screenshot.

Can I reuse the material on this site?

Yes. The written record is published under CC BY 4.0: reuse it, translate it, print it, cite it. Attribute iranholocaust.org and keep the original sources visible so readers can verify the claims themselves.