Green MPs are sponsoring Iranian protesters who are at risk of being executed in the Middle Eastern nation.
The move will see the MPs who've signed up lobbying for the safety of individual prisoners.
"Our MPs pledge to tell prisoners' stories, to say their names, and to work to secure their release," the Green Party’s human rights spokesperson Golriz Ghahraman said in a statement today.
"More than 18,000 political prisoners have been taken by the Islamic Republic of #Iran in recent weeks. We only know the names of around 3000. Each has a family and friends, who have mostly been kept from any contact with their disappeared loved ones."
The party is calling on other Kiwi politicians to do the same.
“Highlighting these individual cases of injustice will help focus attention on the human rights situation in Iran and put pressure on the regime," Ghahraman said.
"Each of these activists holds a special place for us as MPs. One of the prisoners I am sponsoring, for example, Niloofar Hamedi is a journalist who first broke the story of the murder of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini at the hands of the ‘Morality Police’.
"Nioofar exposed the brutality of the regime against women and I want to do for her what she did for all Iranian women."
It comes as travel bans have been imposed on 22 Iranian security force members, the Government announced this week.
The initial bans are targeted at those connected to the death of 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini and the Iranian government's violent response to subsequent protests.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said New Zealand will always advocate for "greater civil and political freedom" and condemns the actions of Iranian authorities.
"What happened to Mahsa Amini is inexcusable," she said. "New Zealand continues to stand with the people of Iran, especially women and girls."
Ardern said the Government will continue to condemn the violence in Iran and backs an investigation into recent events from an independent outside body.
In October, the Greens criticised the Government to do more to hold the Iranian regime to account as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs negotiated the safe release of two Kiwi travel bloggers held in the conservative Islamic Republic.
SHARE ME