In its 44th consecutive week of protests, on Tuesday, November 26, the “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign, held in 25 different prisons across Iran, described the issuance of “mass execution sentences” as “the strategy of Iran’s authoritarian regime to instill fear and terror.”
The statement reads: “While Iranian society is grappling with severe and complex livelihood problems, and the regime has reached a deadlock in resolving them, it considers increasing executions as the only solution to prevent the recurrence of widespread popular protests.”
In this regard, the “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign highlighted the “daily executions” in various Iranian prisons, adding that “at least 25 individuals have been executed in just the past week.”
According to the statement, last month alone, “the regime executed over 140 people, leaving hundreds of families in mourning. These sentences serve no deterrent purpose and are not aimed at punishing individuals but are political in nature, intended solely to spread fear and repression in society.”
In this context, the human rights news agency HRANA reported on Thursday, November 21, that between October 22 and November 21 alone, at least 133 executions were carried out, including one public execution, 24 sentencing decisions, and seven death penalty confirmations.
The “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign, referencing the issuance of “mass death sentences,” including for six defendants in the Ekbatan case, wrote that these actions should be seen as part of “the regime’s strategy to assess and prevent the start or spread of protests by the fed-up Iranian people.”
The campaign added: “In a repressive move, the authoritarian regime ruling the country has recently issued inhumane death sentences for two Kurdish political prisoners in Urmia Central Prison: Mehran Hassan-Zadeh, who was arrested during the 2022 protests, and Hamid Abdollahzadeh.”
The campaign’s statement emphasizes that the issuance of these sentences coincides with the 71st condemnation of the Iranian regime by the United Nations General Assembly’s Third Committee for gross human rights violations.
The statement also noted the transfer of four Arab political prisoners sentenced to death from Sheiban Prison in Ahvaz to solitary confinement, adding that it has been nearly 40 days with no information about the status of Adnan Ghobeishavi, Ali Mojadam, Moein Khanfari, and Mohammadreza Moghaddam, warning that their lives are “in serious danger.”
The “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign, while condemning all executions, the unjust judicial processes, and the blatant human rights violations in Iran, issued a serious warning about the escalation of executions. It called on all organizations and individuals worldwide, including political, human rights, civil, and labor activists, to make greater efforts to save the lives of prisoners on death row in Iran.
The statement emphasized: “We continue to stress collective solidarity and united action to stop the machinery of killing.”
The statement also noted that members of the “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign have been holding hunger strikes on Tuesdays for 44 consecutive weeks in protest against execution sentences in Iran.
