Iran’s No to Execution Tuesdays campaign has entered its 98th consecutive week on December 9, 2025, with an alarming update: a surge in executions across the country, a new death sentence against political prisoner Karim Khojasteh, and the suspicious death of one of the movement’s closest allies, attorney Khosro Alikordi.
In its new statement, the campaign begins by honoring Alikordi, a well-known defender of justice who represented detainees from the nationwide protests of 2022 and worked closely with families seeking accountability. The statement says Alikordi “passed away under suspicious circumstances,” calling his loss “a profound tragedy for freedom-seeking lawyers, for all justice-seekers, and for his family, friends, and colleagues.”
The campaign stresses that the regime’s use of capital punishment has long ceased to function as a legal penalty. As the statement reads, “Today, the issue of execution in Iran is not a punishment, but an organized crime and a systematic violation of the right to life.”
NCRI Statement: #Iranian Political Prisoner Javad Vafaei Transferred to Solitary Confinement, Faces Imminent Executionhttps://t.co/1SKUPR3hFg
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) December 7, 2025
According to the data cited in the statement, the situation has worsened sharply in recent days. Authorities officially notified political prisoner Karim Khojasteh of his death sentence in Lakan Prison in Rasht. The campaign adds that “95 people, including two women, were executed this week alone,” and that “in the first 17 days of Azar (November 22–December 8), more than 200 executions have been recorded, all intended to suppress society and block the path of popular uprisings.”
The movement also announces widespread participation in its weekly hunger strike. In the 98th week of the campaign, prisoners across 55 facilities—from Evin and Ghezel Hesar to Shiraz, Ahvaz, Zahedan, Mashhad, Tabriz, Urmia, and Sanandaj—have joined the protest. The statement notes that on Tuesday, December 9, political prisoners in all 55 listed prisons observed the coordinated hunger strike as part of the No to Execution Tuesdays action.
As Iran enters December with an intensified wave of executions, the campaign emphasizes that the death penalty is being used not as a legal measure but as a tool of systemic repression. The statement reaffirms the movement’s commitment to continue its weekly resistance, insisting that the fight against state-sanctioned killing remains a national imperative.