Email: elections@ealing.gov.uk

Subject: Urgent action required - Islamic Republic in Iran's elections.

Date: 26th June 2024

Dear Katarina and Pardip,

Re: Friday, June 28th - Islamic Republic’s Elections held at Ealing Council

It has come to our attention that Ealing Council Offices, located at 14 Uxbridge Road, London, W5 2HL, are due to be set as a polling station for the circus elections held by the Islamic Republic in Iran. We, the British Iranians ask for immediate attention to our concerns and lay some foundations below with some background.

On Friday, March 8th, the UN’s Fact-Finding Mission on Iran released a comprehensive report concluding that the Islamic Republic’s regime has committed crimes against humanity. The UK government released a statement on March 18th expressing particular concern about these crimes against humanity and gender persecutions under the current regime, led by Ali Khamenei. Throughout the election process, including pre-vetting, staging, and final approval, Ali Khamenei has the final say, making the elections a mere circus for the regime.

Only in 2022, over 500 peaceful protestors were killed, and over 20,000 were arrested. Some were executed, others received heavy sentences, and many remain in limbo inside the regime’s prisons.

As British Iranians, we have been campaigning and protesting continuously throughout the past 45 years, with intensified efforts over the past 2 years since the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini in September 2022. We have informed the police and will be holding protests across the voting stations including Ealing Councill Offices. We have noticed that all the locations in London are particularly bases of the Islamic Republic and are shocked to see Ealing Council offices taking part in these sham election process!

We ask Ealing Council to cancel the polling station due to the ongoing human rights violations as found by the UN and confirmed by the UK government.

It is worth mentioning that, so far, Canada and Saudi Arabia have not given permission for these sham elections to take place so far, and a polling station in Australia has been cancelled.

We have attached two important articles: one by The Guardian detailing the Fact-Finding Mission’s results and the other from the UK Government’s statement following the findings.

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/un-human-rights-council-55-uk-statement-on-independent-fact-finding-mission-to-iran

https://amp.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/mar/08/un-iran-committed-crimes-against-humanity-during-protest-crackdown

Yours sincerely,

United4Mahsa, Voice of Iran, and Stage of Freedom