Ghezel Hesar Prisoners Mark Fifth Day of Strikes Despite Threats from Authorities

Iran: 1,500 Death-Row Prisoners in Ghezel Hesar Continue Hunger Strike for Fifth Day Despite Authorities’ Threats

Strikers, in a statement titled “The Testament of Ghezel Hesar Prisoners,” call for public support

• The religious dictatorship, caught in a deadly impasse and unable to cease executions, is jamming prisoners’ mobile phones to prevent news of the strike from spreading.

Today, Friday, October 17, 2025, the hunger strike of 1,500 prisoners sentenced to death in Unit 2 of Ghezel Hesar Prison continued for the fifth consecutive day. Yesterday, a group of the regime’s criminal officials, including Mullah Hosseinzadeh, Tehran’s deputy prosecutor, the head of the Prisons Organization, and the head of Ghezel Hesar Prison, appeared before the prisoners and demanded they end their strike in exchange for the return of 10 prisoners who had been taken to solitary confinement for execution. They threatened, “We have shown mercy so far. If you do not end your strike by midnight, you must expect the worst treatment.”

Subsequently, the prison guards also threatened the prisoners, stating, “If you do not end your strike, we will adopt a different approach.” The prisoners responded, “We will stand firm until the end, whatever may come.”

Meanwhile, according to reports received so far, 19 prisoners were executed on Wednesday, October 15, alone. On Thursday night, October 16, another 12 prisoners were transferred from Karaj Central Penitentiary to solitary confinement for execution.

The striking prisoners, in a statement titled “The Testament of Ghezel Hesar Prisoners,” called upon the people of Iran to gather in front of the regime’s parliament on Sunday, October 19, to support them.

The religious dictatorship, in its final phase and at a deadly impasse where it can neither stop the savage executions nor prevent their social and political consequences, is desperately trying to block the news of the prisoners’ strike. For this reason, since last night, it has been using jamming devices to disrupt the prisoners’ mobile phones, disabling their SIM cards to prevent news from leaking out.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)

17 October 2025