Below is an article published by Payvand Iran News:

With presidential elections one week away, Iranians in one of the largest cities in Iran, Isfahan, chanted slogans this week against the government and called for the release of all political prisoners. Outside of the country, Iranians are taking up such calls with events drawing attention to the plight of political prisoners, and in support of the pro-democracy and human rights movements in Iran.

In San Francisco on Sunday, Iranians and their allies will kick off a week of global action with a rally: “Behind Bars: Rally for Freedom of Express in Iran” Sunday, June 9 at Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Among the speakers:

Sarah Shourd, an American who was arrested by Iranian forces while hiking near a border between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan in July 2009. She was held in solitary confinement for over a year at Evin Prison, Tehran. Sarah is an international solidarity activist and writer. Turaj Zaim, an Iranian-American activist-poet, will be symbolically released from an onstage jail cell. Zaim staged a hunger strike at San Francisco city hall following the 2009 elections which resulted in the release of his father, Kourosh Zaim, from Evin Prison in Iran. San Francsico Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, an Iranian-American and supporter of the Iranian pro-democracy movement in the Bay Area.

Presidential elections will be held next Friday [14 June 2013] in Iran. The field of candidates has been whittled down from 700 to just eight men, all of whom are considered allies of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.

“More than 500 prisoners of conscience remain behind bars in Iran,” said Firuzeh Mahmoudi, director of United for Iran. “Recently, members of a candidate’s team were arrested when they demonstrated in support of Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has been under house arrest for over two years, along with other reformist politicians. Iran is not fair or free - and its presidential elections are not fair or free.”

Photo by Steve Rhodes