Iran Protests: “No to Executions Tuesdays” Campaign Enters 57th Week, Expands to 37 Prisons

Security forces inspect the outer perimeter of Chubindar Prison in Qazvin, north-central Iran

Staff WriterFebruary 25, 2025
Iran Protests: “No to Executions Tuesdays” Campaign Enters 57th Week, Expands to 37 Prisons
The outer perimeter of Chubindar Prison in Qazvin, north-central Iran

Written by
Amir Taghati

The outer perimeter of Chubindar Prison in Qazvin, north-central Iran
Iran’s “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign has entered its 57th week, growing to include 37 prisons nationwide, with Chubindar Prison in Qazvin as the latest to join. Amid a surge in state executions, prisoners across Iran announced a hunger strike on February 25, 2025, demanding an end to the rampant use of the death penalty by the regime.

The strike follows a dramatic increase in executions, with 17 hangings carried out in just two days, including 10 at Ghezel Hesar Prison. Additionally, three prisoners died last week due to deliberate medical neglect, fueling further outrage. Political prisoners such as Mehdi Hassani and Behrouz Ehsani are now at imminent risk of execution after Iran’s Supreme Court denied their retrials.

Activists warn that the Iranian regime’s judiciary, now led by Jafar Montazeri, has become a tool of oppression, fast-tracking unjust death sentences. The campaign calls for global solidarity to oppose state-led executions and pressure the regime to halt its use of capital punishment.

Excerpts of the statement from the No to Executions Tuesdays campaign follows below:

Continuation of the “No to Executions Tuesdays” Campaign in 37 Prisons Across Iran in Its 57th Week, with Chubindar Prison in Qazvin Joining
The clerical dictatorship has escalated executions following its official state ceremonies in February. In just two days, on February 20 and 21, 2025, 17 prisoners were executed, 10 of them hanged in Ghezel Hesar Prison alone.

However, state-sanctioned killings are not limited to executions. Last week, three prisoners lost their lives in Urmia, Lajevardi-Iranshahr, and Dehdasht prisons due to deliberate medical neglect. This ongoing crisis endangers countless other inmates and constitutes nothing less than systematic murder by the regime.

Amid this intensified repression, a group of prisoners in Qazvin has announced that they will join the “No to Executions Tuesdays” hunger strike on February 25, 2025, in protest against the unjust execution sentences imposed on both political and non-political prisoners. They have declared that their hunger strike will continue until the execution machine is stopped and they will stand in solidarity with the broader campaign.

According to reports, on February 23, 2025, the Supreme Court rejected the appeals of political prisoners Mehdi Hassani and Behrouz Ehsani, both of whom had previously been sentenced to execution. As a result, these two prisoners now face an imminent risk of execution. This dire situation also applies to many other prisoners, including Pakhshan Azizi and Varisheh Moradi in Evin Prison, Sharifeh Mohammadi in Lakan Prison, Rasht, and numerous others.

The “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign had previously warned that with the appointment of Jafar Montazeri—the former Attorney General—as the head of the Supreme Court, the judiciary would fall further under the control of security agencies. The campaign had anticipated that political prisoners’ cases would be manipulated, assigned to special branches designed to rubber-stamp baseless Revolutionary Court rulings. Montazeri’s appointment has now completely exposed the judiciary’s lack of independence and its role in upholding the regime’s brutal repression.

The campaign strongly condemns all executions, regardless of the charges fabricated against the victims, and remains committed to preventing and abolishing the death penalty in Iran. It calls on all human rights defenders, political activists, civil society groups, and conscientious individuals in Iran and worldwide to unite against the use of executions as a tool of repression and to amplify the voices of prisoners on death row.

Prisoners in 37 facilities across Iran will participate in the hunger strike, including:

Evin Prison (Women’s Ward, Wards 4 & 8)
Ghezel Hesar Prison (Units 3 & 4)
Karaj Central Prison
Greater Tehran Prison
Khurin Prison (Varamin)
Arak Prison
Khorramabad Prison
Asadabad Prison (Esfahan)
Dastgerd Prison (Esfahan)
Sheiban Prison (Ahvaz)
Sepidar Prison (Ahvaz)
Shiraz Military Prison
Adelabad Prison (Shiraz – Men’s & Women’s Wards)
Borasjan Prison
Ramhormoz Prison
Bam Prison
Kahnooj Prison
Tabas Prison
Jovin Prison
Mashhad Prison
Gonbad-e-Kavus Prison
Qaemshahr Prison
Rasht Prison (Men’s & Women’s Wards)
Roudsar Prison
Haviq-Talesh Prison
Dizelabad Prison (Kermanshah)
Ardabil Prison
Tabriz Prison
Urmia Prison
Salmas Prison
Khoy Prison
Naqadeh Prison
Saqqez Prison
Baneh Prison
Marivan Prison
Kamyaran Prison
Chubindar Prison (Qazvin)

 

Iran Protests: “No to Executions Tuesdays” Campaign Enters 57th Week, Expands to 37 Prisons

Staff WriterFebruary 25, 2025
Arab-Islamic Committee in Defence of Ashraf
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