Iranian political prisoners have marked the 100th consecutive week of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign with coordinated hunger strikes across 55 prisons nationwide, issuing one of their most forceful indictments yet of the regime’s execution policy and what they describe as a state-run machinery of death.
In a statement released on Tuesday, December 23, 2025, the prisoners declared that the campaign—now entering its third year—remains unbroken despite executions, repression, and the loss of fellow inmates. The statement frames Iran regime’s execution policy not as criminal justice, but as an instrument of intimidation and political survival.
“One hundred weeks of saying no to execution. One hundred weeks of relentless struggle against the killing machine and the gallows. One hundred weeks of standing against cruelty and brutality.”
"According to @Mojahedineng documents provided to @FoxNews, a free-falling Iranian currency, nationwide protests, factional power struggles, "snapback" U.N. sanctions and fractures among leaders are stoking the increase in executions. The MEK says that this year’s execution total…
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) December 19, 2025
Hunger Strikes in 55 Prisons
To mark the 100th week of the campaign, prisoners announced a collective hunger strike spanning 55 prisons, including Evin, Ghezel Hesar, Greater Tehran Prison, Gharchak, Adelabad Prison Shiraz, Sheiban and Sepidar Prisons in Ahvaz, Zahedan, Urmia, Tabriz, Sanandaj, Mahabad, and dozens of others across the country.
The statement confirmed that the women’s ward of Yazd Prison formally joined the campaign this week, a development welcomed by the organizers as a sign of expanding resistance behind bars.
“With greetings and gratitude to these courageous women, we hope other prisons will join this campaign, so that the day comes when ‘No to Execution’ spreads across the entire country and paves the way for abolishing this inhuman punishment.”
Amid a tsunami of executions in 2025, 61 women were executed in Iran. In just the last five months, 35 women—almost one every four days.
This escalation reflects the systematic and accelerating use of capital punishment as a tool of repression. https://t.co/pQGsPf67Pg— IRAN HRM (@IranHrm) December 22, 2025
A Response to an Execution Surge
The prisoners’ action comes amid a dramatic escalation in executions. According to the statement, at least 357 executions were carried out in the Iranian month of Azar alone, underscoring what the prisoners describe as a regime in acute crisis.
Citing recent UN documentation, the statement asserts that more than 2,000 people have been executed in Iran so far in 2025, more than double the number recorded in 2024.
“This illegitimate government has, in 2025 alone, sent more than 2,000 people to the gallows with the aim of intimidation and psychological repression.”
The prisoners argue that the regime’s turn to mass executions reflects not strength, but desperation amid unresolved political, social, and economic crises that have made normal daily life increasingly impossible for ordinary Iranians.
The UNGA today adopted Third Committee’s resolution on Iran with 78 votes in favor, condemning grave human rights violations. The text strongly denounces the sharp rise in executions and warns against incitement to violence—recalling the #1988Massacre. #StopExecutionsInIran https://t.co/XUv7DdNXDM pic.twitter.com/OZpVHbebPo
— IRAN HRM (@IranHrm) December 18, 2025
Execution as a Tool of Fear
The statement directly challenges the regime’s calculation that executions can preempt future protests.
“In a completely misguided assessment of Iranian society, the regime believes that by displaying such savagery—by executing the youth of this land—it can prevent future uprisings. But this unrestrained brutality has not cured, and will not cure, the disease of despotism.”
Rather than silencing dissent, the prisoners argue, executions have exposed the moral and political bankruptcy of the ruling system.
"A boxing champion in prison in #Iran is thought to be at imminent risk of execution after his request for a retrial was rejected by the country’s supreme court," reports @sajajohnson for @guardian https://t.co/eEVAsoHbTF
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) December 19, 2025
Persistence Despite Loss and Repression
Marking the symbolic weight of the 100th week, the statement reflects on the human cost of the campaign, including nights marked by the execution of fellow prisoners.
“Despite countless hardships, acts of courage, and the most painful nights—watching our companions and cellmates taken to the gallows—the campaign continues at full speed.”
Families of prisoners are also recognized as a central pillar of resistance.
“One hundred weeks of breaking the dominance of the gallows and the prison.
One hundred weeks of calls for perseverance by prisoners’ families.”
#Iran News Alert – Simay Azadi Exclusive
Letter by @Mojahedineng supporter, political prisoner Khosrow Rahnama's letter from Ghezelhesar prison: “The oppression of the mullahs has completed the crimes of the treacherous Shah and has stolen the outcome of the anti-monarchic… pic.twitter.com/AO2fW06BgN— SIMAY AZADI TV (@en_simayazadi) December 21, 2025
A Campaign Without an End Date
The prisoners make clear that the hunger strikes and protests will not stop until the death penalty itself is abolished.
“This campaign will continue without interruption and will persist until the inhuman sentence of execution is abolished.”
In framing their struggle, the prisoners explicitly connect executions to dictatorship, describing a system that relies on death sentences and firing squads to impose itself on society.
“We stand against a dictatorship that seeks to silence every protest through executions and death squads and to impose itself on society.”
A Direct Challenge to the Regime
The 100th week statement leaves little ambiguity: the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign is not a humanitarian appeal within the system, but a direct moral and political challenge to the foundations of the regime’s rule.
As executions accelerate and repression intensifies, the coordinated hunger strikes across dozens of prisons send a message the regime has failed to suppress for nearly two years: resistance continues—even from inside the cells—and no amount of repression can extinguish the flame of desire for freedom and democracy.