Inmates in 25 prisons across Iran held the 43rd week of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign on November 19. The “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign is a coordinated protest movement initiated by political prisoners across Iran to oppose the regime’s extensive use of the death penalty. Since it began in early 2024, the campaign has involved weekly hunger strikes and statements condemning executions, aiming to raise awareness and mobilize both national and international support against capital punishment in Iran. The number of prisons participating in the campaign is constantly growing.
The 25 prisons participating in the 42rd week of the campaign included Evin (women’s ward, wards 4 and 8), Ghezel Hesar (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 Prison (men’s and women’s wards), Ardabil Prison, Tabriz Prison, Urmia Prison, Salmas Prison, Khoy Prison, Naqadeh Prison, Saqqez Prison, Baneh Prison, Marivan Prison, and Kamyaran Prison.
In the 43rd-week statement, participating prisoners declared: “Coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the November 2019 protests, we are witnessing an increase in brutal executions and the issuance of these inhumane sentences, particularly targeting young individuals arrested during the 2022 protests.
“Last week, six individuals accused in the Ekbatan case were sentenced to death following a completely contradictory, unjust, and ambiguous judicial process. Since last Tuesday, the oppressive theocratic regime ruling Iran has executed 28 individuals, and over 133 since the beginning of November. On November 7 alone, 18 executions were carried out.”
The statement added: “In continuation of its criminal and savage executions, last week the regime publicly executed one prisoner, and in an inhumane act executed another named Ahmad Alizadeh twice in Ghezel Hesar Prison. The regime also killed a prisoner named Ghafar Akbari under severe torture in the Malekan detention center in East Azerbaijan Province.”
The hunger-striking prisoners’ statement reads: “During these times, when the regime has intensified its repression and killing of people in chains and is accelerating its execution machinery, we are witnessing resistance from incarcerated prisoners. For 43 weeks, prisoners in 25 prisons, despite all pressures, have gone on hunger strikes every Tuesday, chanting ‘No to Execution.’
“The campaign members call on the honorable people to actively unite and support the ‘No to Execution Tuesdays’ campaign and to be the voice of anonymous and defenseless prisoners awaiting execution.”
In their statement, the hunger-striking prisoners said: “The campaign condemns all executions in Iran and calls on the UN Special Rapporteur, Ms. Mai Sato, to take serious action to cancel and halt the death sentences that have excessively increased in recent days in Iran, and to hold the perpetrators and those ordering these inhumane acts accountable.”
The campaign held its 43rd week while executions continue at an alarming pace in Iran. On Wednesday, November 13 at least seven prisoners, including one woman, were hanged in Ghezel Hesar Prison. On the previous day, two prisoners were hanged in Hamedan, with one of the victims brutally and cruelly executed in public. On November 14, another prisoner was executed in Amol.
Meanwhile, several political prisoners arrested in relation with anti-regime protests are in danger of being executed.
The rampant use of death penalty and the wave of mass executions—accelerated at an unprecedented rate under Masoud Pezeshkian’s tenure—reflect the regime’s fear of an impending uprising, its attempt to curb the people’s simmering rage, and its futile bid to delay its inevitable overthrow.