“Since the Taliban takeover, girls in my homeland have been deprived of the most basic freedoms such as education and sport,” shares Mariam*, a SAT-7 PARS viewer from Afghanistan. The challenges of women in Iran and Afghanistan have increased dramatically in the past year, and SAT-7 PARS continues to support and empower them in their desire for change and freedom.

As intense protests continue in Iran, SAT-7 PARS’ Viewer Support team have been witnessing a growing unity among Iranian and Afghan viewers through their prayers of intercession for one another. Persian-speaking viewers are calling on the Lord for freedom, peace, and safety for people across the region.

The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran’s “morality police” has sparked that nation’s most serious unrest since 2009. Mahsa, an Iranian Kurd on a visit to family in Tehran, was detained for allegedly wearing the hijab incorrectly and days later, on 16 September, died after being hospitalised in a coma.

Christian TV and media network SAT-7 is responding to the continuing nationwide protests and government crackdown in Iran by joining a global two-week campaign of prayer. From Friday 21 October, SAT-7’s Persian language channel, SAT-7 PARS, is devoting the first five minutes of every live programme to prayer for Iran and its people.

Iranians protesting the killing of Mahsa Amini by Iran’s Hijab Police have captured the attention of people around the world. The sight of young women and men wielding only words against a regime armed and willing to use its might against unarmed citizens is the story of David and Goliath being replayed before our very eyes. But in this modern retelling, David is injured and dying every day.

“We want to target the ‘everywoman’ – those who are somehow entrapped and confined,” says Maggie Morgan, producer and director of SAT-7’s new live program Today not Tomorrow, which will be broadcast on SAT-7 ARABIC this month.

“Hunger, famine, and unemployment are gathering momentum. Most people would be happy to die, but my hope is in the Lord,” writes Amin*, a man from Afghanistan. A year since the country’s previous government collapsed and the Taliban took control, SAT-7 PARS’ Afghan viewers are providing a window into the challenges they face every day, while also speaking of their shared hope in Christ.

As Turkish society continues to be shocked by high numbers of femicides, SAT-7 is reaching out to vulnerable women with a simple message: you are not alone. A second series of a powerful program offering support to them has launched, one year on from Türkiye’s troubling withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention.