How to Support the Iran Prisoner List

You generous donation of any amount towards the costs of hosting, administration and maintenance of this important database of prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in Iran, and the human rights abuses inflicted upon them by the regime which holds them captive, is very much appreciated. The list represents many thousands of hours of painstaking research, validation, and fact-checking, and has been continuously updated since the end of 2009.

There are several rules applied to updating and maintaining the list, including identifying and selecting sources which have proved consistently reliable. To maintain the highest level of credibility also demands independence from third parties with political agenda, so the decision was taken from the very beginning, that no funds from state operated organisations, nor from those NGOs and groups reliant on state funding, could be accepted. This is an expensive decision, which probably excludes 99% of funding sources. It means there is no compensation for the time spent on the list unless an independent organisation or an individual chooses to donate, and there is no time or budget available to conduct fundraising and awareness campaigns, but it is an important principle.

Please send a message using the contact form in the sidebar for details of how to send funds by cheque, money order or bank transfer. It is also possible to use some online money transfer services, such as Western Union, but please note that PayPal has rejected donations and frozen my account in the past, just because of one four-letter word, "Iran." PayPal is an American company, a country where there are very broad restrictions on offering financial support to anything Iran-related. It appears PayPal has decided extend those restrictions to include customers outside of the US and is unable or unwilling to grant exceptions in support of human rights.

If anyone knows what it's like to not have even one pound (or dollar, euro, etc) to spare, I am that person. So if you are so hard up right now, even after you've taken the car off the road, cancelled every extra for your home apart from water, power and phone (with internet!), and can still  barely afford to eat - I understand completely. Yet you can still support the list by sharing the updates: just follow this blog or @Speak4Iran on Twitter. Or you might have information to add to the list to make it more complete and accurate - please send details using the contact form, or follow the instructions here.

In hope of freedom for all those unjustly detained in Iran, and worldwide,

my very best wishes,

@lissnup