Iran’s “No to Executions Tuesday” Campaign Reaches 130th Week Amid Mass Hunger Strike and Fresh Executions
The entrance to Qarchak Prison, also known as Shahr-e Rey prison, a notorious women’s penitentiary located in Qarchak, Iran
Written by
Safora Sadidi Mohammadi
Prisoners in 59 facilities across Iran began their weekly hunger strikes on Tuesday as part of the long-running “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign, which marked its 130th consecutive week with the addition of Neyshabur Prison to the protest.
According to a statement released by the campaign, more than 1,500 death-row inmates in Unit 2 of Ghezel Hesar Prison have been refusing food for over a week in protest against executions. The prisoners, the majority of whom are sentenced to death on drug-related charges, are demanding the abolition of the death penalty.
“In opposition and protest against inhumane executions, more than 1,500 prisoners in Unit 2 of Ghezel Hesar Prison have been engaged in protest and hunger strike for over a week and are demanding the cancellation of death sentences,” the statement said.
The campaign also condemned the execution of four prisoners in the past week, describing the killings as carried out “in a medieval manner.” The executed men named in the statement were identified as Aref Khoshkar in Ghezel Hesar Prison and Mohammad Amini Dehaqani, Erfan Esfandiari, and Gol Mohammad Mohammadi in prisons in Isfahan.
https://x.com/IranHrm/status/2079527459574235243
The statement reserves particularly sharp criticism for the regime’s use of the death penalty in drug cases. It asserts that the true importers and producers of narcotics in the country are senior regime officials and commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The campaign claims that impoverished individuals ensnared by drug trafficking are routinely executed as a cover for this reality.
“It is clear to everyone that the importers and producers of narcotics in Iran are the heads of the government and the commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” the statement reads. “To cover up this blatant betrayal, individuals who have fallen into the trap of narcotics out of poverty and destitution are sent to the gallows every day.”
The “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign, which has operated continuously for more than two and a half years, now involves coordinated hunger strikes every Tuesday in dozens of prisons. With the reported participation of inmates at Neyshabur Prison, the protest has expanded to 59 facilities.
https://x.com/en_simayazadi/status/2077410837791121455
The prisons listed in the campaign’s statement include Evin Prison (men’s and women’s wards), multiple units at Ghezel Hesar, Central Karaj, Fardis, Greater Tehran, Qarchak, and Khorin Varamin prisons, as well as facilities in Isfahan, Ahvaz, Shiraz, Zahedan, Rasht, and numerous prisons in Kurdistan, West Azerbaijan, and other provinces.
The campaign’s statement frames the sustained protests as a direct challenge to what it describes as the Iranian authorities’ systematic use of capital punishment, particularly against economically vulnerable prisoners convicted on drug charges.