On Tuesday, October 7, 2025, prisoners in 52 of Iran’s most notorious prisons marked the 89th consecutive week of the “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign, a coordinated act of defiance against the regime’s escalating use of capital punishment. This powerful internal protest was met with a groundswell of public support, as citizens in dozens of cities across the country took to the streets in solidarity, chanting anti-execution slogans just days before the World Day Against the Death Penalty on October 10.
The campaign’s latest statement highlights the alarming rate of state-sanctioned killing, which starkly contrasts with global trends. According to the campaign, the regime has executed 1,695 people since October 1, 2024. In the first six and a half months of the current Persian year alone, 957 individuals have been hanged.
The statement warns that the true number is likely far greater, noting, “We must admit that we are unaware of many executions, and the real numbers are much higher; this is only part of the crime of this execution-loving government.” The report comes just days after the regime executed seven political prisoners on Saturday, October 4: Arab activists Ali Majdam, Mohammadreza Moghaddam, Moein Khanfari, Habib Deris, Adnan Ghabishawi, and Seyed Salem Mousavi, along with Kurdish prisoner Saman Mohammadi Khiareh. On the same day, the death sentence for political prisoner Mohammad Javad Vafaei-Sani was confirmed for a third time.
89th Week of #NoToExecutionTuesdays | Oct 7, 2025
Prisoners in 52 prisons across Iran joined hunger strikes ahead of the World Day Against the Death Penalty.
“The regime breaks new records of cruelty every day.”
1,695 executed in the past year, 957 in 2025 alone.#Iran pic.twitter.com/OvEoeqgIrn— SIMAY AZADI TV (@en_simayazadi) October 7, 2025
The campaign’s organizers frame the regime’s use of the death penalty not as a judicial measure, but as a political weapon designed to crush dissent. “Execution in Iran is not just a punishment but a tool for intimidation and creating terror in a society on the verge of explosion,” the statement reads. It points out that while 145 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice, according to a recent Amnesty International report, in Iran, the shadow of death grows wider every day.
In a courageous response, citizens echoed the prisoners’ calls for an end to executions. Despite a heavy security presence and surveillance, protests erupted in dozens of cities, including Tehran, Mashhad, Sanandaj, Karaj, Zahedan, and Isfahan. Demonstrators held pictures of political prisoners on death row and brandished placards demanding an immediate halt to the killings. The streets rang with defiant slogans that directly challenged the regime’s authority:
- “This is the final message: if you execute, there will be an uprising!”
- “Our screams are stronger than your gallows.”
- “From Kurdistan to Tehran, we demand the abolition of executions!”
- “Political prisoners must be freed.”
October 7—Across Iran
On the 89th week of the “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign, families of death-row political prisoners gathered to demand an end to executions and the release of political prisoners.
They chanted: “No to executions for anyone!”#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/H9JGOKQNtF— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) October 7, 2025
As the movement grows, linking prisoners’ defiance with popular street action, its organizers are issuing a broad appeal for support. Their statement concludes with a call to action, urging all conscious individuals to join the cause. “We ask all awakened consciences, civil activists, writers, artists, teachers, retirees, and workers to raise their voices against execution to take away the main tool of repression and suffocation from this execution-loving government. It is then that the path for the realization of justice and freedom will be paved.”