This Girl Could Be Executed in Iran Tomorrow. Here’s How You Can Try and Stop It

Iran Activism
by Ailsa Ross Oct 12, 2016

WHAT DID YOUR LIFE LOOK LIKE the October you were 17? I was living away from home for the first time — ecstatic every time my fake ID got me into Edinburgh’s sweatiest clubs; homesick every time I realised I was still a child, unable to care for myself to the point of not managing to tell the difference between my dorm’s communal washer and a dryer.

Zeinab Sekaanvand Lokran was still a child, aged 17, when she was tortured for 20 days until she confessed to the murder of her abusive husband.

She was a child under International Law — the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child — treaties both ratified by Iran.

Zeinab Sekaanvand Lokran is now 22. She’s been in prison the past five years for a crime she says she did not do. She’s suffering from depression and she could be given the death penalty as soon as tomorrow.

Here are two simple things you can immediately do to help stop this young woman’s execution:

  • Email the Iranian government right now:

Check out Amnesty International’s report — it only takes a few minutes to read — then send imploring emails to the Iranian leader and head of the judiciary. Amnesty have provided email templates for you to follow, so it’s really easy to do. You can also comment on this article for help with your emails.

  • If you know how to use a hashtag, use this one: #SaveZeinab

And keep tweeting Khamenei.ir until someone listens.

It can feel futile to aim hashtags and emails at uncaring presidents in far-away places. Even if every millennial on the planet tweeted against it, Zeinab Sekaanvand Lokran could still be executed on October 12. But to allow a young woman to die without those of us who are free to travel the world at least trying to prevent it, seems worse.

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