A group of about 20 human rights societies and NGOs have written to US President Joe Biden, calling on him to fulfill his promise of confronting the authoritarian regime of the Islamic Republic. 

In the letter, released on Friday, they said the death of 22-year-old Mahsa (Jina) Amini in police custody in September has set in motion massive nationwide protests and strikes in at least 103 cities and towns across Iran’s all 31 provinces, with scores of people killed and many more injured during the government crackdown on the ensuing protests so far.

They enumerated several tragic events that took place since Mahsa’s death such as the Bloody Friday in Zahedan, and the hours-long siege of Tehran’s Sahrif University that led to the death and arrest of many students, and expressed gratitude over the US government’s actions to date, including expanding sanctions exemptions to allow Iranians to use cloud computing and circumvention technologies, sanctions on Iran’s “morality” police, and expressions of solidarity with the women and people. 

Noting that “The Iranian people need the support of the United States and the entire international community to attain their rights and freedoms,” they called on Biden to “lead in concert with democratic allies at the United Nations in Geneva diplomatic efforts to establish an urgent special session immediately after the conclusion of UNHRC’s 51st regular session to bring governments into a debate about addressing the current violent crackdown and Iran’s ongoing human rights crisis.