Hamed Farmand Children’s rights advocate | Iran Hamed

Farmand is an Iranian children’s rights advocate whose work shines a light on one of the most silenced experiences of state violence: the trauma endured by children whose parents are imprisoned. Born into a politically active family in Iran, Hamed’s childhood was marked by profound loss. His mother was imprisoned for five years during his formative years, and several members of his extended family were executed. These experiences, rooted in state repression, left invisible scars that followed him into adulthood. Years later, after reading a blog post by a fellow Iranian woman about her own child’s pain, Hamed found himself confronting long-buried memories — and realized he had a story to tell. He began writing anonymously under the name “Prisoner Number Zero,” documenting how the incarceration of his mother shaped his psychological world. What began as a blog turned into a calling. After immigrating to the United States and later settling in Canada, Hamed founded Children of Imprisoned Parents International, a nonprofit dedicated to advocating for the rights and dignity of children affected by parental incarceration — whether due to political repression, poverty, or systemic injustice. Through his writing, storytelling, community education, and international advocacy, Hamed continues to center children in conversations too often dominated by legal or political concerns. His work builds bridges between local trauma and global solidarity, and insists on a future where no child carries the burden of state violence into their adulthood.