Iran’s “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign has entered its 57th week, growing to include 37 prisons nationwide, with Chubindar Prison in Qazvin as the latest to join. Amid a surge in state executions, prisoners across Iran announced a hunger strike on February 25, 2025, demanding an end to the rampant use of the death penalty by the regime.
The strike follows a dramatic increase in executions, with 17 hangings carried out in just two days, including 10 at Ghezel Hesar Prison. Additionally, three prisoners died last week due to deliberate medical neglect, fueling further outrage. Political prisoners such as Mehdi Hassani and Behrouz Ehsani are now at imminent risk of execution after Iran’s Supreme Court denied their retrials.
Activists warn that the Iranian regime’s judiciary, now led by Jafar Montazeri, has become a tool of oppression, fast-tracking unjust death sentences. The campaign calls for global solidarity to oppose state-led executions and pressure the regime to halt its use of capital punishment.
Excerpts of the statement from the No to Executions Tuesdays campaign follows below:
Continuation of the “No to Executions Tuesdays” Campaign in 37 Prisons Across Iran in Its 57th Week, with Chubindar Prison in Qazvin Joining
The clerical dictatorship has escalated executions following its official state ceremonies in February. In just two days, on February 20 and 21, 2025, 17 prisoners were executed, 10 of them hanged in Ghezel Hesar Prison alone.
However, state-sanctioned killings are not limited to executions. Last week, three prisoners lost their lives in Urmia, Lajevardi-Iranshahr, and Dehdasht prisons due to deliberate medical neglect. This ongoing crisis endangers countless other inmates and constitutes nothing less than systematic murder by the regime.
🔴 Iran: 56th Week of "No to Execution Tuesdays" Expands to 36 Prisons
On Feb 18, prisoners in 36 Iranian prisons launched a hunger strike against state executions.
📢 In their statement, they condemned 55 executions since Jan 20 and the death A. M Khaleghi. #FreeIran2025… pic.twitter.com/vPbSgmfUcD
— SIMAY AZADI TV (@en_simayazadi) February 18, 2025
Amid this intensified repression, a group of prisoners in Qazvin has announced that they will join the “No to Executions Tuesdays” hunger strike on February 25, 2025, in protest against the unjust execution sentences imposed on both political and non-political prisoners. They have declared that their hunger strike will continue until the execution machine is stopped and they will stand in solidarity with the broader campaign.
According to reports, on February 23, 2025, the Supreme Court rejected the appeals of political prisoners Mehdi Hassani and Behrouz Ehsani, both of whom had previously been sentenced to execution. As a result, these two prisoners now face an imminent risk of execution. This dire situation also applies to many other prisoners, including Pakhshan Azizi and Varisheh Moradi in Evin Prison, Sharifeh Mohammadi in Lakan Prison, Rasht, and numerous others.
56 Weeks of Hunger Strikes in 36 Prisons
On Feb 18, 2025, prisoners in 36 prisons across Iran continue their hunger strike as part of the "No to Execution Tuesdays" Campaign.https://t.co/rtJJMyhbkm
🔴 Dizelabad Prison in Kermanshah has now joined the movement.
🔴 Prisoners…— IRAN HRM (@IranHrm) February 18, 2025
The “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign had previously warned that with the appointment of Jafar Montazeri—the former Attorney General—as the head of the Supreme Court, the judiciary would fall further under the control of security agencies. The campaign had anticipated that political prisoners’ cases would be manipulated, assigned to special branches designed to rubber-stamp baseless Revolutionary Court rulings. Montazeri’s appointment has now completely exposed the judiciary’s lack of independence and its role in upholding the regime’s brutal repression.
The campaign strongly condemns all executions, regardless of the charges fabricated against the victims, and remains committed to preventing and abolishing the death penalty in Iran. It calls on all human rights defenders, political activists, civil society groups, and conscientious individuals in Iran and worldwide to unite against the use of executions as a tool of repression and to amplify the voices of prisoners on death row.
#IranProtests: “No to Execution Tuesdays” Enters 56th Week with Hunger Strikes in 36 Prisonshttps://t.co/MrK5VxwpIc
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) February 18, 2025
Prisoners in 37 facilities across Iran will participate in the hunger strike, including:
- Evin Prison (Women’s Ward, Wards 4 & 8)
- Ghezel Hesar Prison (Units 3 & 4)
- Karaj Central Prison
- Greater Tehran Prison
- Khurin Prison (Varamin)
- Arak Prison
- Khorramabad Prison
- Asadabad Prison (Esfahan)
- Dastgerd Prison (Esfahan)
- Sheiban Prison (Ahvaz)
- Sepidar Prison (Ahvaz)
- Shiraz Military Prison
- Adelabad Prison (Shiraz – Men’s & Women’s Wards)
- Borasjan Prison
- Ramhormoz Prison
- Bam Prison
- Kahnooj Prison
- Tabas Prison
- Jovin Prison
- Mashhad Prison
- Gonbad-e-Kavus Prison
- Qaemshahr Prison
- Rasht Prison (Men’s & Women’s Wards)
- Roudsar Prison
- Haviq-Talesh Prison
- Dizelabad Prison (Kermanshah)
- Ardabil Prison
- Tabriz Prison
- Urmia Prison
- Salmas Prison
- Khoy Prison
- Naqadeh Prison
- Saqqez Prison
- Baneh Prison
- Marivan Prison
- Kamyaran Prison
- Chubindar Prison (Qazvin)