In the seventieth week of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign, Fardis Prison in Karaj joined the movement. Currently, 45 prisons across the country are on hunger strike in protest the growing number of executions in Iran’s prisons.
In this week’s statement, the prisoners declared that the only solution is to raise their voices and rise against oppression and injustice. They wrote:
“Silence is not the solution”; one must shout and rise against this injustice and tyranny. As has been the case for weeks, several families of political prisoners sentenced to death—together with young people and freedom-loving citizens—have shouted “No to executions” in front of prisons across the country and even in cities around the world in support of the campaign.
The Sixty-Ninth Week of the “No to Executions Tuesdays” Campaign In 44 Prisons Across Iran
The full text of the statement by prisoners participating in the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign is as follows:
With deep sorrow and regret, the killing of prisoners in the prisons of the ruling tyranny has not only failed to stop, but the statistics of this “madness of government-sanctioned killing of imprisoned citizens” continue to rise.
The repressive apparatus of the regime, between April 21 and May 21, sent over 170 imprisoned compatriots to the gallows—an unprecedented and horrifying statistic that shows every nine hours, two prisoners have been executed in Iran. Sadly, about 19% of these executions involve oppressed Baluch citizens, who are subjected to compounded discrimination and injustice.
The “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign sincerely calls on all human rights advocates and those who aspire to a free and equal Iran to stand with the victims of oppression during these difficult days and years. Iran’s regime, by violating fair trial rights and widely carrying out execution sentences, tramples on the “right to life” of ethnic and religious minorities and brazenly sends Baluch, Kurdish, and Arab compatriots, as well as prisoners of conscience, to the gallows.
How just and necessary it is for those who care about Iran—especially those with access to international platforms—to echo the Iranian people’s cry of “No to executions” and expose the regime’s “madness for killing” to the world. This inhumane behavior by the dictatorial regime toward minorities and the Iranian people is a clear example of a “crime against humanity” and a flagrant violation of human rights.
It is abundantly clear that every execution verdict in Iran carries a political dimension and is not merely the punishment of a defendant, because each defendant is a victim of the corrupt and dysfunctional structure of the regime. Moreover, there is no fair judicial process within the regime’s judiciary and security apparatus. The primary goal of these executions is to instill fear in society and prevent popular uprisings. As the crises in the country intensify, repression and executions have also escalated.
In line with this, in a creative act, the women prisoners involved in this campaign at Evin Prison gather every Tuesday at the same time as the families’ gatherings and chant “No to executions.”
This solidarity between those inside and outside prison is admirable, and it is fitting for the slogan “No to executions” to resonate in the streets and protests of various sectors of society.
We are pleased to announce that this week, too, a group of prisoners at Fardis Prison in Karaj have expressed their solidarity with the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign and will join the hunger strike in protest of the wave of executions.
Accordingly, political prisoners involved in the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign will be on hunger strike in 45 prisons on Tuesday, May 27, during the campaign’s seventieth week.
