On Tuesday, April 29, 2025, prisoners in 41 prisons across Iran participated in the 66th week of the “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign by launching hunger strikes to protest the Iranian regime’s escalating use of executions as a tool of repression. This week, Sanandaj Prison joined the campaign, expanding its scope to yet another facility.
In their weekly statement, the prisoners extended condolences to the victims of the deadly explosion at the Bandar Abbas port, which left dozens dead and over a thousand injured. They directly blamed the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for the tragedy, linking it to the regime’s militaristic policies and pursuit of nuclear armament.
The statement also commemorated International Workers’ Day and National Teachers’ Day, expressing solidarity with Iran’s oppressed laborers, teachers, and retirees—many of whom have faced imprisonment or execution for demanding their rights.
The prisoners warned of the alarming pace of executions, noting that 35 individuals have been executed just in the first nine days of the Persian calendar month of Ordibehesht (April–May 2025), including one woman and two political prisoners.
They further highlighted the Supreme Court’s rejection of retrials for two death-row political prisoners, Mehdi Hasani and Behrouz Ehsani, and raised concern over other prisoners who are under the threat of being executed.
April 29—Tehran, Iran
In tandem with the 66th week of the "No to Executions Tuesdays" campaign, families of political prisoners on death row rally in front of Evin prison to call for the revocation of the death sentences of their loved ones.pic.twitter.com/mzMBw9BEbO— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 29, 2025
In tandem with the 66th week of the “No To Executions Tuesdays” campaign, families of political prisoners on death row gathered in front of the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran to demand the revocation of the death sentence of their loved ones.
Full Statement of the 66th Week of the “No to Executions Tuesdays” Campaign
Sanandaj Prison Joins the “No to Executions Tuesdays” Campaign in Its 66th Week
Condemnation of the Bandar Abbas Explosion, Mass Executions, and the Iranian Regime’s Repressive Practices
The 66th week of the ‘No to Executions Tuesdays’ campaign coincides with the heartbreaking news of the deaths of dozens and the injury of over a thousand people in the horrific explosion in Bandar Abbas. We extend our condolences to the families of all the victims. The Iranian people are well aware that the main perpetrators of this disaster—whose full human and financial toll is still unknown—are the tyrannical rulers and the terrorist force known as the IRGC, who are always working toward missile and nuclear weapons production and fueling war.
On the eve of International Workers’ Day and Iran’s National Teachers’ Day, the members of the ‘No to Executions Tuesdays’ campaign offer greetings and congratulations to all the people of Iran, especially the workers, laborers, and teachers—both current and retired. Although for years, these groups have been subjected to oppression and discrimination by the regime for demanding their rights, facing imprisonment, and even execution, we still stand in solidarity with them.
We take this opportunity to thank all workers, teachers, retirees, artists, writers, and poets who have, in recent days, taken a stand against the death penalty in various ways. We hope that ‘No to Executions’ will become a shared public demand and that, as in the past, the slogan ‘No to Executions’ will echo through demonstrations.
The wave of executions in recent weeks, especially targeting political prisoners, has caused us grave concern for the lives of those sentenced to death. So far in the month of Ordibehesht alone, 35 individuals have been executed, including one woman and two political prisoners of conscience. Rustam Zeynoddin from Zahedan and Hamid Hosseinnejad Heydaranlou were executed in a particularly cruel manner. Mr. Heydaranlou’s body was not even returned to his family. These actions are inhumane, constitute blatant violations of human rights, and reveal the regime’s fear of popular uprisings.
Just last Wednesday, the Supreme Court of the regime rejected, for the second time, the retrial requests of two death-row political prisoners, Mehdi Hasani and Behrouz Ehsani, making the implementation of their death sentences dangerously imminent.
Moreover, according to published reports, a prisoner named Mohsen Langar-Neshin, who has been sentenced to death on espionage charges, has now been transferred to solitary confinement, raising concerns that his execution may also be imminent.
Today, thousands of prisoners with various charges face execution in Iran, and at any moment their sentences could be carried out. In protest of these medieval rulings, a group of prisoners from Sanandaj Prison has announced in a letter that they are joining the ‘No to Executions Tuesdays’ campaign starting Tuesday, April 29, and will go on hunger strike alongside prisoners in other prisons across the country, in order to raise their voices in protest to the world.
The prisoners participating in the 66th week of the “No to Executions Tuesdays” hunger strike are from Evin Prison (women’s ward, wards 4 and 8), Ghezel Hesar Prison (units 3 and 4), Karaj Central Prison, Greater Tehran Prison, Arak Prison, Khorramabad Prison, Asadabad Prison in Isfahan, Dastgerd Prison in Isfahan, Sheiban Prison in Ahvaz, Nezam Prison in Shiraz, Bam Prison, Kahnuj Prison, Mashhad Prison, Qaemshahr Prison, Lakan Prison in Rasht (men’s and women’s wards), Ardabil Prison, Tabriz Prison, Urmia Prison, Salmas Prison, Khoy Prison, Naqadeh Prison, Saqqez Prison, Baneh Prison, Marivan Prison, Kamyaran Prison, Tabas Prison, Khorin Prison in Varamin, Rudsar Prison in Gilan, Sepidar Prison in Ahvaz, Ramhormoz Prison, Talesh Prison, Adelabad Prison in Shiraz (men’s and women’s wards), Joveyn Prison, Borazjan Prison, Gonbad-e Kavus Prison, Dizel Abad Prison in Kermanshah, Chobindar Prison in Qazvin, Miandoab Prison, Zahedan Prison, Azbaram Prison in Lahijan, Sanandaj Prison, and Behbehan Prison.