WE HAVE NO FEAR

"They’d choose the women who were pretty and suited their appetite ...

… then the officer would take one of them from the cell to a smaller, private room.”

“They would sexually assault them there.”

This how Iran's security forces use rape to quell protests.

Covert testimonies reveal sexual assaults on male and female activists as a women-led uprising spread. In recent weeks, social media videos have emerged allegedly showing Iranian security forces sexually assaulting female demonstrators on the streets. Reports of sexual violence against activists in prisons began to surface.

Women have played a central role in Iran’s uprising since it ignited months ago. The slogan “Women, Life, Freedom” reverberates through anti-regime demonstrations.

Some clerics and politicians already have called for the relaxing of social rules, while others doubled down, conflating the female protesters with what they call “loose women” who were merely pawns in a plot hatched by Western governments.

The fact is the regime is weakening and corroding from within largely because of the attitude of those brave women and some men who spontaneously sided with them.

How can it be possible to defend a culture of rape and sexual abuse as normal? How can there be men and even women who defend and protect abusers and rapists? Our silence on this matter is the same as our support. Let's reject! WE HAVE

Let us teach our daughters to be women of courage and let us warmly welcome all men of good faith who are willing to fight at our side. Rape is a violation of private property and individual freedom; under no circumstances can it be protected. Rape is an attack on the most basic moral norm; can never be forgiven. Rape is a civilizational deficit at the level of the most animal barbarism; it is in all circumstances condemnable.

Rape is a crime against the rights of humanity.