United for Iran
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Mission Statement
United for Iran is a bold nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2009 and based in Berkeley, California. We provide strategic support to front-line activists and grassroots freedom movements in Iran as they courageously resist authoritarian rule. Led by Iranian activists, former political prisoners, and dissidents, we draw strength from our lived experience to fuel our unwavering commitment to a democratic Iran—a free society grounded in justice, equality, dignity, and human rights for all. We design innovative tools and strategies that equip activists to resist repression, stay safe, and peacefully demand change. We expose human rights abuses against Iranian political prisoners and advocate for their release and wellbeing. And we create bespoke subversive technologies that not only amplify the impact of activists, but embolden ordinary citizens to join the movement for freedom.
About This Cause
To build a free and democratic Iran, we empower activists, grassroots movements and marginalized communities to become organized, resilient and resourced. Through a bottom-up approach, we equip those on the front lines with the tools, strategies and support they need to challenge repression, protect human rights, and lead efforts for democratic change. United for Iran is committed to constantly scanning the environment to identify creative and innovative points of intervention where we can make the greatest difference. From pioneering phone apps to training activists on counter-surveillance strategies, we design solutions that are as bold and dynamic as the challenges we face. By leveraging our expertise and the wisdom of those on the ground, we amplify the power of Iran’s movements for justice and freedom. Our Projects: GERSHAD is a mobile phone app that enables Iranian women to evade the Islamic Republic’s Morality Police and experience more personal freedom and safety as a result. Morality Police, or Gasht-e-Ershad in Persian, stop and harass millions of Iranian women and arrest over 20,000 every year. Violations include wearing an improper hijab or walking with a male friend. These stops, arrests and detentions—which are always humiliating and often violent—represent violations of basic human rights of Iranian women. Unfortunately, they are routine: Every woman in Iran has a harrowing story about her encounter with the Morality Police. Gershad has received multiple awards including from Deutsche Welle. In the last two years, NPR, The World, Coda, Forbes, The Young Turks and Ms. Magazine all covered it, among others. It has been downloaded 230K+ times, has 60K+ followers on social media and its users have kept each other safe by submitting over 21K reports. PHOENIX (formerly Toranj) is the first personal safety phone app developed specifically to support Iranian women experiencing gender based violence (GVB). Built and operated by Iranian psychologists, Phoenix provides an emergency alert system, GBV assessment and educational materials, and referrals to GBV-related service providers. Every year, Phoenix enables thousands of at-risk women to avoid or escape abuse and receive essential support. Phoenix is an indispensable tool for low-income Iranian women who do not have the resources to seek legal or psychological support on their own, but are four times more likely to experience domestic violence. 50% of the women we serve come from marginalized ethnic minority communities, for example, the Kurdistan Province and the city of Ahvaz. In the first six months of 2024, 500 women have received our free counseling. We also held three in-person workshops about the risks of gender based violence, how to mitigate those risks and address the harm. 70 women from at-risk communities were in attendance. SAFE ACTIVISM is an educational campaign that trains activists on-the-ground in Iran how to protect themselves and stay safe as they organize, advocate and protest. With Safe Activism, we compile, package and share critical information with Iranian activists in order to teach them how to minimize the risk of arrest, navigate the interrogation process, and mitigate the consequences of incarceration. We also coordinate and collaborate closely with other diaspora-based civil society organizations so that we can all better support the activists on the ground. “If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together,” is our motto. Our goal is to ensure that we get to the finish line—a free and democratic Iran—together and safe. Our 100+ page booklet that has been downloaded and shared by over 4,000+ activists and our content has been viewed 2M+ times on social media. Further, Safe Activism staff have provided direct security risk assessments and consultations with over 160 Iranian activists. IRAN PRISON ATLAS is a robust online database that documents human rights violations in Iranian prisons and advocates for political prisoners’ human rights. The Atlas provides a more complete view of Iran’s prison system, which the regime would prefer to keep opaque. Over the years, we have documented over 6,000 cases of political prisoners, over 8,200 cases of arbitrary arrests, and over 19,000 human rights violations by the Islamic Republic. United Nations officials, national governments, advocacy groups, and media outlets worldwide use the Atlas to report on the situation in Iran and advocate for change. In our outreach, we prioritize the Iranian media because we want to influence the public opinion in Iran and, ultimately, the behavior of Iranian officials and Iranian policies. Along with our allies, we also utilize the database to work closely with the families of prisoners to advocate for their humane treatment and release. Recently, the information the Atlas collected has been used in new articles written by the BBC, Wired, VOA, Radio Zamaneh and others. Our content has been viewed 5M+ times and recently the US State Department referenced our work in their Religious Freedom in Iran report in 2023. In 2022, we created a companion website called the Human Rights Barometer to track, analyze and visualize human rights data in Iran, including our ongoing research on prisoners. See our data on arbitrary detentions, torture and press freedom visualized. IRANCUBATOR is a global project that brings together Iranian civil society leaders and Iranian app developers to create phone apps, websites, and other digital tools that promote social good, advance civil engagement and propose solutions to social, economic and political problems in Iran. As an incubator, we encourage cutting-edge and out-of-the-box ideas and we are not afraid to fail. This unique and bold approach to nourishing and encouraging social change has resulted in many transformative social good apps, like Phoenix. Since 2016, we’ve done two rounds of IranCubator projects, which resulted in interventions like the Cheragh Academy, an educational online platform and a social media movement focused on preventing sexual harassment in the workplace, Nahoft, an offline encryption app made for Android phones, and Hamdam, a one-stop shop for information on women’s reproductive and legal rights. Over the years, IranCubator apps have been downloaded over 700,000 times with over 7.3 million page views and were used for over 250,000 hours. The apps were featured in prominent media outlets including Forbes, WIRED, Fast Company, and Voice of America. NETWORK SUPPORT FUND provides emergency legal, medical and technical aid to support, protect, and sustain grassroots activists and movement leaders. We launched this program in 2022 when the Women, Life, Freedom (WLF) movement took off and Iranians showed the world a glimpse of the transformative power of Iranian activists, as well as the government’s single-minded desire to hold on to unchecked and unjust authority. The IRI countered the popular will of the WLF protesters with internet shutdowns, censorship of speech and thought, and violent, often deadly crackdowns on public protest. In response, we launched our Network Support Fund to provide emergency aid, tools, and expert assistance to as many activists as possible on the ground in Iran. Our support included funding a mobile medical clinic for activists harmed during the protests, providing new devices to activists whose cell phones or computers were potentially compromised, and organizing legal aid for activists who faced arrest and imprisonment due to their activities. In 2024, we provided medical support to 469 activists, legal support to 86 activists, and new cell phones or laptop computers to 17 activists who had their devices confiscated and potentially bugged. Our Impact: Supported the Women, Life, Freedom uprising in 2022/23 by providing life-saving technology through Gershad, allowing users to report and avoid security forces. Built a community of 16,000+ superusers who submitted 7,000+ morality police reports in Gershad in 2024. The Gershad community is 80,000+ strong on social media. Provided medical support to 469 injured activists, legal support to 86 activists who faced criminal charges, and new cell phones or laptop computers to 17 activists who had their devices confiscated by the Iranian government. Provided over 160 digital security consultations with in-country activists to improve their skills, which allowed them train 2,000+ individuals in their communities. Produced 20+ comprehensive security toolkits by interviewing over 230 Iranian activists and political prisoners. The toolkits were downloaded by12,000+ Iranians. Created the most comprehensive database on Iranian political prisoners in existence featuring thousands of cases of political prisoners going back to 2011. Created 970 detailed profiles on Iranian judges, meticulously documenting their crimes against political prisoners. Created a dozen social good apps as part of our IranCubator program, resulting in 700,000+ downloads and 250,000+ hours of use by users inside Iran. Established a network of over 90 mental health and legal experts who have supported over 500 domestic abuse survivors in Iran.