Iranian prisoners in 34 facilities across the country have entered the 53rd consecutive week of hunger strikes as part of the “Tuesdays Against Executions” campaign. This movement, initiated by political and non-political prisoners, aims to protest the widespread use of the death penalty in Iran, where over 1,000 executions occurred last year.
Entering the second year of the campaign, prisoners are demanding global attention to the increasing execution rates, with participants spanning high-profile prisons like Evin and Ghezel Hesar. Despite growing threats, the campaign has gained international support, amplifying the call to abolish executions and address Iran’s systemic human rights violations.
The full statement of the “No to Execution Tuesdays’ Campaign” follows:
The 53rd Week of the Hunger Strike in the “Tuesdays Against Executions” Campaign in Iran’s Prisons
“The Start of the Second Year of the ‘Tuesdays Against Executions’ Campaign, a Comprehensive National and International Movement Against Executions”
We, the political and non-political prisoners in 34 prisons across the corners of chained Iran, on Tuesday, January 28, 2025, begin the second year of the “Tuesdays Against Executions” campaign with even more enthusiasm and fervor. On this 53rd Tuesday of the campaign, we will initiate a hunger strike. May our voices, from behind the thick prison walls, join with the voices of the women, men, and youth of Iran, so that we may contribute to defending human rights and dismantling the nooses of execution.
We are starting the second year of this campaign at a time when, over the past year, more than a thousand prisoners have been executed, and in the past month of December alone, the number of executions has exceeded 110.
https://twitter.com/iranhrs_en/status/1883990377415495911?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Today, on the anniversary of this campaign, we are on a hunger strike under dire circumstances. On Sunday, January 26, two political prisoners and members of the “Tuesdays Against Executions” campaign, Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, who are sentenced to death, were violently taken from Evin Prison and transferred to Ghezel Hesar Prison. According to their lawyers, on Monday, January 27, their request for a retrial was filed.
However, based on information received by the campaign, these two political prisoners are currently in the secure wing of Unit 3 in Ghezel Hesar Prison, where prisoners on the verge of execution are held, and they face the imminent threat of execution.
Political prisoners in Ghezel Hesar announced their first hunger strike on Tuesday, January 28, 2024, and since that day, they have persevered in the Tuesday hunger strikes for a year. Initially, a number of political prisoners in Units 4 and 8 of Evin Prison, then the women’s ward in Evin, Karaj Central Prison, Lakan Prison in Rasht, and subsequently, week after week, other prisons joined the “Tuesdays Against Executions” campaign. Up to now, at the start of the second year of the campaign, the number of prisons involved in this movement has reached 34.
The “Tuesdays Against Executions” campaign started last year when the wave of executions became so widespread and extensive that it was unprecedented globally. This was not a random occurrence or merely a legal-judicial matter.
At the beginning of this wave of executions, an appeal for justice was published by ordinary prisoners under death sentences, calling upon all prisoners and the people of Iran for help and support to save their lives and the lives of those in line for execution.
The “Tuesdays Against Executions” campaign is a protest against the policies of repression and death in Iran.
The start of the “Tuesdays Against Executions” campaign coincided with the seventh day after the execution of the late Mohamad Qobadlou and Farhad Salimi, political and ideological prisoners in Ghezel Hesar. The initial members of the campaign protested the executions through their hunger strikes. They chose Tuesdays because, generally, those sentenced to death are transferred to solitary confinement on Mondays, and executions are carried out at dawn on Wednesdays.
This protest movement, which now encompasses most of the country’s prisons, has transcended the prison walls thanks to the efforts of our compatriots inside and outside Iran, crossing geographical boundaries. Numerous human rights organizations, activists, international institutions, and even political movements have supported it. Many media outlets and news agencies have responsibly reported the weekly statements and updates of the “Tuesdays Against Executions” campaign.
Javaid Rehman, then the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, praised this campaign in a message. Ms. Mai Sato, the current special rapporteur, also described the Tuesday campaign in a video message (October 10, 2024) as “an unwavering commitment to justice and human rights that has shone brightly against the oppressive actions of the regime.”
On the same day, October 10, 2024, coinciding with World Day Against the Death Penalty, Iranians in the United States and most European countries held events linked to the “Tuesdays Against Executions” campaign, echoing the voice of this movement against executions worldwide.
In recent weeks, we have witnessed domestic support from students, teachers, workers, and women. The general strike in Kurdistan was a significant milestone that deserves recognition and should be expanded throughout Iran.
We remind everyone that, according to Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “everyone has the right to life,” and Article 5 states, “no one shall be subjected to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.” Execution is an irreversible punishment, and opposing it is the duty of every free and honorable human being.
However, in Iran, under the rule of a religious dictatorship, executions have reached unimaginable levels and have become a tool of intimidation, taking the general public hostage. In Iran, the death penalty is not a legal punishment but a political instrument used to suppress and retaliate against the Iranian people. This reality increases our duty to confront repression, torture, and executions, and we hope to fulfill this responsibility.
On Tuesday, January 28, 2025, during the 53rd week of the campaign, prisoners in the following 34 prisons are on hunger strike:
Evin Prison (Women’s Ward, Units 4 and 8)
Ghezel Hesar Prison (Units 2 and 4)
Karaj Central Prison
Greater Tehran Prison
Khorrin Varamin Prison
Arak Prison
Khorramabad Prison
Asadabad Prison in Isfahan
Dastgerd Prison in Isfahan
Sheiban Prison in Ahvaz
Sepidar Prison in Ahvaz
Shiraz Military Prison
Adelabad Prison in Shiraz (Men’s and Women’s Wards)
Borazjan Prison
Ramhormoz Prison
Bam Prison
Kahnooj Prison
Tabas Prison
Jovein Prison
Mashhad Prison
Qaemshahr Prison
Lakan Prison in Rasht (Men’s and Women’s Wards)
Roodsar Prison
Haviq Talesh Prison
Ardabil Prison
Tabriz Prison
Urmia Prison
Salmas Prison
Khoy Prison
Naqadeh Prison
Saqqez Prison
Baneh Prison
Marivan Prison
Kamyaran Prison
The Second Year of the Campaign in the 53rd Week
January 28, 2025
#Tuesdays_Against_Executions
Source » ncr-iran