Announcement about the Founding of Yaran Fund
Since November 2007 the scale of the persecution, oppression, torture and murder by the Islamic Republic of the people fighting for freedom in Iran has achieved new heights. A large number of militants fighting for freedom, most of whom belong to the progressive and egalitarian student movement in Iran, have been arrested and imprisoned. A substantial number has been forced to leave the country and arrive in Turkey or Iraq. The financial as well as security and legal problems that many of these militants face are too obvious to explain.
Some of the founding members of Yaran (Fellows) Fund have been aware of the plight of these militants thanks to the information that have reliably received from one of the activists in the student movement.
These fleeing political militants are under pressure by the agents of the Islamic Republic as well as the security officers of the Turkish government. Unfortunately, there have even been instances where Iranian political organisations have taken advantage of the financial and refugee problems of these activists and made their lives even more unbearable.
During the past three years some of us have tried either as individuals or as a group, and within our limited means, to come to the aid of these activists. However, due to the continuation of the flight of more activists from the country and the worsening of their persecution we have come to the conclusion that we need more resources to help them and we cannot maintain even a small portion of their ever increasing needs on our own.
Thus, we have decided to publicise the plight of these activists and call on more people to join us in helping them. Attached to this announcement are the governing rules for the Yaran Fund. Please join us to help these fellow activists to realise that they are not alone in their pursuit for a more secured and humane way to live and survive despite all the odds against them! Join the list of donors to Yaran Fund.
Yaran Fund
24 August 2010
Azar. N, Arzhang Mani, Arash Kamangar, Azhdar. M, Elizabeth. K, Iraj Janatie Ataie, Eiren Rezazadeh, Bibarg Kaveyr, Parvin Ashrafi, Parsto Tabrizi, Taraneh Azadi, Taghi Pak-Iman, J. Darvish, Jafar Rassa, Hamid. A, Dara Tabah, Reza Jafari, Roya. F, Ziba Sahabi, Saeed Zamani, Siamak Jahanbakhsh, Siamak Moydzadeh, Saffar Saeed, Sh. Roudbar, Farshid. M, Farhad Besharat, Maziar Mahan, Mahbobeh Meshkin, Mohammad Shams, Mahmoud Bayan, Mahmoud Memarnezhad, Morad Azimi, Mehdi. Z, Mahnaz Syrus, Nazli Partovi, Nilofar Shidmehr,
The Rules Governing Yaran Fund
Yaran Fund is set up to collect financial aids and dispatch them to freedom-fighting refugees who are not being covered by political parties or other institutions.
At the start of the work, Iraj Janatie Ataie, Parvin Ashrafi, Taraneh Azadi, Farhad Besharat, Mohammad Shams and Mahnaz Syrus volunteered to act as members of its provisional board of trustees. After this period, the members of the board of trustees are elected once every six months by the general assembly of its members and would be accountable to this body.
Yaran Fund has a registered bank account which will be announced publicly. All the donations collected, whether they are paid by the regular membership fees of the fellows of the Fund or from others in various events, must be deposited in this bank account. Payments made to activists from the Fund are decided on a case by case basis on the receipt of written proposals made by the members of the Fund and the decision of the board of trustees.
The board of trustees appoints one of its members to act as the treasurer for Yaran Fund in order to audit the account, dispatch financial aid and compile a list of all the donations collected for external publication.
Donations made to the fund are published every quarter together with the name of the donors and the amount they have contributed in one or a few websites or publicly available journals. Donors could use either their real names or pseudonyms on grounds of security or privacy (so long as the board of trustees is aware of their real identity). A list of all the receivers of financial aid by the Fund is also published every quarter together with the real names or pseudonyms of the recipients in the same websites and journals.
Monthly subscription for the members of Yaran Fund is equivalent to 10 Euros. New members could join in after they have been invited by at least one of the existing members.
Whenever and for whatever reason Yaran Fund cannot continue with its activities, the board of trustees would summon an extraordinary general assembly. The dissolution of the Fund would then be decided by a two third majority. The board of trustees would then publicise in the media the date of the dissolution of the Fund, its remaining financial deposits as well as the manner in which they have been distributed among those who have the necessary requirements to receive them.
