If they can’t come to us, we’ll go to them! This October, we are inviting everyone to walk, run, scoot, skate and cycle the 3,209 miles from London to Tehran in support of Morad Tahbaz and Mehran Raoof.
You can take on the challenge as an individual or as part of a local team but all of us involved across the UK will be taking on the challenge together. Every mile you track will be added to the overall challenge total and help us to reach this goal.
We have 31 days to together total up 3,209 miles all while calling for Morad and Mehran’s immediate, unconditional release and return to their loved ones.
Why take on the London to Tehran Challenge?
The 1st October will be Morad’s 67th birthday and the 5th that he has spent away from his children, either in prison or under a travel ban in Iran.
In March 2022, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori were finally released from prison in Tehran and flown back to the UK to be with their loved ones. Morad and Mehran were excluded from this deal.
Amnesty International UK have detailed compelling evidence that Iran’s detention of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe amounted to an act of hostage-taking, which is a crime under international law, and their concerns for other held dual and foreign nationals whose arbitrary detention may also amount to hostage-taking. The Iranian authorities are currently unjustly detaining Swedish-Iranian Ahmadreza Djalali; Austrian-Iranians Kamran Ghaderi and Massud Mossaheb; German-Iranians Nahid Taghavi and Jamshid Sharmahd; and the two British-Iranians: Mehran Raoof and Morad Tahbaz.
In March 2022, an 82-year-old Australian-Iranian national, Shokrollah Jebeli, died in custody after the authorities deliberately denied him adequate specialized medical care and withheld his medication for his multiple serious health conditions.
We must come together across the UK and insist that the UK Government ensure that all unjustly detained British-Iranian dual nationals are released while working with the international community to ensure this hostage taking diplomacy does not continue to destroy the lives of innocent people.
How to get involved?
Sign up!
Visit londontotehran.com to join the community across the UK who will be taking on the London to Tehran Challenge together throughout October.
You can take part as an individual or as a local group but every single one of us are all part of one big team taking on this challenge together. We are always stronger when we’re united and this challenge is no different!
Visit londontotehran.com from September 5th to register and take on the London to Tehran Challenge. You can set your own individual distance challenge on your personal page and each mile you track will be added to the overall total.
You may want to organise group or community events (walks/cycles/etc) to build your distance together or you may prefer to set a solo-challenge. Whatever works best for you, do it! The most important thing is that we are all taking on this challenge and speaking with one voice throughout October.
Any questions please reach out to us at amnesty.cardiff@btinternet.com
Further Actions
The aim of this challenge is to show how many of us in the UK care deeply about the situation in which Morad, Mehran and their loved ones find themselves. We can do this by using social media to share photographs of us going the extra mile using hashtags:
#FreeMorad #FreeMehran #BringThemHome #NoOneLeftBehind #LondonToTehran
If you are using Twitter you can also tag your local MP, @trussliz PM and @JamesCleverly Foreign Secretary @FCDOGovUK and @AmnestyUK.
We would encourage people to make signs and banners with messages of support and solidarity for Morad and Mehran.
Encourage people you know who want to support this to sign Amnesty UK’s ongoing online action calling for the UK Government to meet with the Tahbaz family and secure Moard’s immediate release: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions/FreeMorad
You could invite your local MP to join you for one of your challenge outings. If you would like any support with this please contact amnesty.cardiff@btinternet.com
Fundraising
This challenge will continue to shine a spotlight on Morad and Mehran’s imprisonment so taking part for one walk or a short cycle is all hugely beneficial. If you would like to use your own distance challenge as an opportunity to fundraise for Amnesty UK then they have set up a JustGiving page specifically for this challenge which you can link to on your challenge profile ( https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/AmnestyLondonTehran )
Fundraising is not a central element of this challenge as it is about coming together as a concerned community to call for action from our government so there is no obligation to make your personal challenge a fundraiser.
You can see how the challenge went in 2021 at our blog post here.
If you would like to take on the London to Tehran challenge or hear more about Cardiff Amnesty’s campaign work you can email us on amnesty.cardiff@btinternet.com
AmnestyCardiff.org 