Since appointing its new president, Iran’s regime has intensified its machine of executions and hangings. And there are no signs of the violence abating, despite new regime president Massoud Pezeshkian branding himself as a “reformist.”
On Monday, August 19, 2024, five prisoners were hanged in Yazd Central Prison, including two Baluch compatriots. On Sunday, August 18, one prisoner was hanged in Tabriz Central Prison, and on Saturday, August 17, three prisoners were hanged in Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz. Earlier, on Thursday, August 15, one prisoner was hanged in Sanandaj Central Prison. Additionally, six prisoners, including two women, were executed in Chubindar Prison in Qazvin in August.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei is extending his reign by “inflicting grief upon an ever-increasing number of mothers, fathers, wives, and children daily.”
The blood-thirsty Ali Khamenei extends his detested reign by inflicting grief upon an ever-increasing number of mothers, fathers, wives, and children daily. Today, five individuals were executed in Yazd; three prisoners met the same fate yesterday in Shiraz, following the earlier… pic.twitter.com/TXL5xONwMZ
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) August 19, 2024
“These crimes have escalated in tandem with the inauguration of Khamenei’s new president and his cabinet,” she said. “However, Khamenei’s attempts to forestall his inevitable overthrow by resorting to domestic repression, torture, executions, and hostage-taking, alongside terrorism and warmongering abroad, will ultimately prove futile.”
At the same time, political prisoners in different prisons across Iran continue their regular hunger strikes. On, Tuesday, August 20, 2024, they held the 30th week of the “No to Execution Tuesdays Campaign” with their hunger strike.
According to the statement by the participating prisoners, the hunger strike is taking place in the Evin Prison, Ghezel Hesar, Karaj Central Prison, Khorramabad Prison, Shiraz Military Prison, Mashhad Prison, Qaem Shahr Prison, Lakan Prison in Rasht, Tabriz, Ardabil, Khoy, Naqadeh, Urmia, Salmas, Saqqez, Baneh, Marivan, and Kamyaran Prisons.
The prisoners of the “No to Execution Wednesdays” campaign, which protests the issuance and implementation of death sentences, have gone on a hunger strike today and called on all their compatriots, especially prisoners across Iran, to join and support this campaign.
The statement from the striking prisoners adds: “The continuous and ongoing expansion of this campaign comes as the judicial and security authorities of the ‘execution government’ have hanged more than 310 people since the beginning of 2024. Among these victims, 16 are women. This government has accelerated its execution machine, executing 118 people in the month of August alone.”
The prisoners’ statement continues: “This shows that the agents of despotism systematically see the solution to all crises in the gallows, and in a sense, they are taking their ‘hard revenge’ through executions on the children of this land.”
The statement further urges: “To confront and prevent the continuation of executions, we call on everyone to rise up in any way possible and support the prisoners in this struggle and resistance that has begun from within the prisons.”
The striking prisoners have called on the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Ms. Mai Sato, to pay special attention to the inhumane actions, especially executions in Iran, and to work towards stopping executions and ending this inhumane situation in the country.