On Tuesday, August 13, 2024, Iranian political prisoners marked the 29th consecutive week of their “No to Executions Tuesdays” hunger strike, a campaign launched in February 2024 to protest the regime’s rampant use of the death penalty. In a powerful statement released to coincide with the latest round of strikes, the prisoners condemned the recent surge in executions, which they described as the regime’s attempt to exploit global distractions, such as the Paris Olympics, to carry out state-sanctioned killings in silence.
The statement from the campaign revealed that, since the previous Tuesday, over 45 prisoners had been executed, including 29 in a single day and 26 in a mass execution at Ghezel Hesar Prison. This grim milestone, the prisoners noted, set a new “record of state-sanctioned killings” not seen in recent years. The statement also highlighted the regime’s continued use of vague and politically motivated charges, such as “rebellion” and “corruption on earth,” to justify the death sentences of many political prisoners. Most recently, six Sunni political prisoners were sentenced to death by the Mashhad Revolutionary Court, with their lives now in serious jeopardy.
The prisoners drew attention to the sharp increase in executions following the inauguration of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, who had claimed that “Iran is the safest country in the Middle East.” The statement pointedly remarked, “In the regime of executions, ‘security’ is defined in this way.”
Message of Resistance and Defiance from Inside #Iran’s Prisonshttps://t.co/JeIZGO08E5
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) July 24, 2024
Reflecting on the origins of the “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign, the statement recounted how it began in response to the wave of executions targeting prisoners convicted of ordinary crimes and later expanded to include the politically motivated executions of young Kurds and Sunnis, as well as figures like the late Mohammad Qobadlou and Farhad Salimi. The prisoners warned that the recent reduction in executions was only temporary and that the regime had merely postponed a “widespread wave of prisoner executions.”
The prisoners also condemned the violent suppression of protests within various prisons, including the recent attacks on inmates in the women’s ward of Evin Prison and the brutal crackdown on protesters at Lakan Prison in Rasht. Despite these repressive measures, the statement declared that such oppression “will certainly not stop the continuation of these protests and will not intimidate us.” The prisoners reaffirmed their resolve, stating that their resistance against this “barbarism” is their right and that they stand in solidarity with the families of those who have been executed, particularly the family of Reza Rasai, a recent victim of the regime’s execution machine.
The statement also made a heartfelt plea to “all conscientious individuals inside and outside the country” to rise against the executions and to support the “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign in any way possible. The prisoners emphasized the urgent need for collective action before the regime’s apparatus of repression “once again hangs hundreds and thousands of prisoners of ordinary and political crimes” in execution chambers across the nation, including those in Ghezel Hesar, Karaj, Urmia, Zahedan, Mashhad, and numerous other prisons.
#Iranian Political Prisoners Risk Lives to Send Defiant Message from Regime’s Clutcheshttps://t.co/ceJPgdy4Xu
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) May 3, 2024
Concluding their message, the prisoners honored the memory of all those who have fallen victim to the inhumane punishment of execution, reaffirming the necessity of abolishing the death penalty in Iran. They also announced that, for the 29th consecutive week, prisoners in 18 facilities, including Evin, Ghezel Hesar, Karaj Central, Khorramabad, Shiraz Military, Khoy, Naqadeh, Tabriz, Urmia, Ardabil, Salmas, Saqqez, Baneh, Marivan, Kamyaran, Lakan Rasht, Qaemshahr, and Vakilabad Mashhad, would continue their hunger strike in protest.
The “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign, driven by the courage and perseverance of these political prisoners, remains a potent symbol of resistance against a regime that seeks to crush the spirit of the Iranian people through fear and brutality. Their unwavering defiance within the regime’s prisons stands as a testament to the enduring struggle for justice and human rights in Iran.
