Iran’s rebellious youth have carried out 20 operations in response to the transfer of political prisoners Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani from Evin Prison to solitary confinement in Ghezel Hesar Prison for execution. Their sentence, issued by the regime’s judiciary, accused them of membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and “rebellion and enmity against God” for their opposition to the regime.
On the morning of Sunday, January 26, 2025, regime authorities suddenly and forcibly transferred these death-row prisoners from Wards 4 and 8 of Evin Prison to Ghezel Hesar Prison. In response, inmates of Ward 4 gathered and protested, chanting slogans such as “This is the final warning, if you execute, there will be uprisings,” “Death to the dictator,” “We swear on the blood of our comrades, we will stand till the end,” and “I will kill whoever killed my brother.”
Subsequently, rebellious youth carried out 11 arson attacks on bases and centers of suppression and looting in Kermanshah and Tehran. They also set fire to IRGC Basij bases and other regime centers of repression and crime, raising the blazing banner of “No to executions” in various cities.
The rebellious youth, in a nod to the steadfast political prisoners, attacked the following regime targets:
- Five arson attacks at the IRGC Ghazanchi base in Kermanshah
- An arson attack at the center of fundamentalism and terrorism known as Javad al-A’emmeh in Tehran
- An arson attack at a center of fundamentalism and oppression against women in Tehran
- Two arson attacks at the IRGC Basij division in Naziabad, Tehran
- arson attacks at regime centers for plundering public wealth and resources in Tehran’s districts 12, 13, and 14
- An arson attack at a regime center for plundering public wealth and resources in Tehran’s district 3
- Setting fire to an IRGC Basij base in Hamedan
- Setting fire to a center of fundamentalism and terrorism in Mashhad
- Burning a banner of Khomeini on the Lashkari Highway bridge in Tehran
- Burning banners of the regime’s propaganda campaigns at the IRGC Mohammed division in Tehran
- Burning a banner of Qassem Soleimani at the Astan Quds Stadium in Mashhad
- Burning a banner promoting the IRGC’s espionage department in Shiraz
- Burning a banner promoting the Ministry of Intelligence’s espionage department in Iranshahr
- Burning banners and images of the Qassem Soleimani in Tehran, Mashhad, Shiraz, Qom, and Sarbaz
Following the transfer of Behrouz Ehsani, 69, and Mehdi Hassani, 48, to solitary confinement in Ghezel Hesar Prison for execution, 260 political and international figures wrote a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, stating: “We urgently appeal for your intervention to save Behrouz Ehsani, 69, and Mehdi Hassani, 48, Iranian political prisoners facing imminent execution. Their death sentences were confirmed by Iran’s Supreme Court on 7 January 2025, after an unjust trial for charges linked to their political activism.”
Another section of the letter, supported by a group of Members of the European Parliament, stated: “The sentences were imposed following credible reports of physical and psychological torture during their detention in Ward 209 of Evin Prison after their arrests in late 2022. Denied a fair trial, their appeals were summarily dismissed, violating Iran’s obligations under international human rights law. Alarmingly, Iranian authorities executed approximately 1,000 prisoners last year, using mass executions to terrorise the population and suppress dissent.”
Amnesty International also issued an urgent global call to stop the executions of Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani.
At the same time, freedom-loving Iranians in various countries protested against the death sentences of the two PMOI/MEK prisoners.