While Iran’s regime continues its policy of repression through executions, the “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign has launched a hunger strike for the sixty-seventh consecutive week in 41 prisons across Iran.
According to the campaign’s statement, “The regime of execution and repression hanged 29 prisoners over the past week. On April 30, 15 prisoners, and on May 4, nine prisoners were executed. As a result, since March 21 (the beginning of the Iranian new year), 154 individuals have been hanged.”
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The statement also refers to the killing of a protester by security forces, saying: “In a brutal act, the tyrannical rulers shot and killed a citizen named Azim Farrokhvand with live ammunition. He had joined a group of people in Dezful protesting the execution of two prisoners.”
The hunger-striking prisoners added: “According to the ‘No to Executions Tuesdays’ campaign, he is the first martyr of the movement since its inception. We honor his memory and emphasize that as long as this regime remains in power, it will never cease executions at any cost.”
The statement further warns against the regime’s use of executions as its primary tool of repression, stating: “The ‘No to Executions Tuesdays’ campaign warns that in the current situation, where Iran’s regime is trapped in both domestic and international deadlocks, it uses executions as its main method of suppression to prevent protest movements and uprisings by an oppressed population.”
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In this context, political prisoners are calling for immediate international action, stating: “Therefore, it is essential that international human rights organizations compel their governments to condition relations with Iran’s regime on the abolition of the death penalty, because the weapon of execution in the hands of this tyranny is more dangerous than any other weapon.”
The campaign’s statement concludes with a public call to action: “We continue to ask all segments of society to stand united and speak out against executions in every possible way.”
On Tuesday, May 6, the “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign will mark its sixty-seventh week of hunger strikes across 41 prisons.
