The Defiant Hunger Strike Unfolds
In the shadow of Tehran’s sprawling prisons, a desperate cry for life echoes louder today: over 1,500 death-row inmates at Qezel Hesar Prison have entered the sixth day of a mass hunger strike, protesting the Iranian regime’s relentless execution machine. Launched on October 12, 2025, this unprecedented act of defiance— the largest collective protest in Iranian prisons in recent memory—unites political dissidents and ordinary convicts in a unified demand: “No to executions!” As the strikers weaken from denied food and medical care, regime officials escalate threats of solitary confinement and imminent hangings, turning the prison into a battleground of wills.
Surge in State-Sanctioned Executions
The hunger strike erupted amid a horrifying surge in state-sanctioned killings. Since the start of 2025, Iran Human Rights Monitor (Iran HRM) has documented more than 1,200 executions, including protesters, ethnic minorities, and political prisoners subjected to sham trials marred by torture and forced confessions. Amnesty International reports an even graver toll: over 1,000 lives ended by the gallows this year alone—the highest annual figure since 1988—averaging four executions per day. This bloodletting disproportionately targets marginalized groups, such as Ahwazi Arabs, Baluchis, Kurds, and Afghans, often on vague charges like “enmity against God” or drug offenses that violate international law. Under President Masoud Pezeshkian’s administration, which began in 2024, the pace has only accelerated, coinciding with the fragile June 2025 ceasefire that ended the brief Iran-Israel conflict. Critics draw chilling parallels to the post-Iran-Iraq war era, when the regime unleashed a massacre claiming up to 30,000 lives, mostly supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
Targeting Political Prisoners: Faces of Resistance
At the heart of Qezel Hesar’s uprising is a shared terror of repetition. Inmates, inspired by the unyielding resistance of PMOI-affiliated political prisoners, chant against the “execution machine” that has claimed over 30 lives in the strike’s first three days alone. Among the 17 MEK-linked dissidents now on death row are figures like Farshad Etemadi-Far, Masoud Jamei, and Alireza Mardasi, sentenced in July 2025 by Ahvaz’s Revolutionary Court on fabricated “waging war on God” charges after years of abuse. Others, including Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, were executed shortly after their Supreme Court appeals were rejected. Recent victims include Pejman Toubrehrizi, Nima Shahi, and Hamed Validi, condemned in September following brutal interrogations.
Regime’s Brutal Crackdown
The regime’s response has been as brutal as it is calculated. On the strike’s fifth day, October 17, Tehran deputy prosecutor Mullah Hosseinzadeh and prison heads confronted the inmates, offering a grim bargain: end the protest by midnight, or face “the worst treatment.” Guards have jammed mobile signals, transferred 16 strikers to solitary for execution, and sent 14 to infirmaries in critical condition. This mirrors broader tactics: state media glorifies the 1988 atrocities as a “successful historical experience” ripe for revival, while authorities bulldoze mass graves at Behesht Zahra Cemetery to erase evidence of past crimes. Political prisoner Saeed Masouri, a leader in the “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign, smuggled out a letter from Qezel Hesar warning: “Just as in 1988, a crime is in progress.”
Parallels Between 1988 Massacre and 2025 Crisis
1988 2025
| Ceasefire after Iran-Iraq War | Ceasefire after Iran-Israel War |
| Fatwa targeting political prisoners | IRGC media calls to “repeat” 1988 executions |
| Secret “death commissions” | Revolutionary Courts issuing rushed sentences |
| Focus on MEK supporters | 17+ MEK affiliates on death row |
| Concealment of burial sites | Destruction of Behesht Zahra graves |
Global Alarms and Calls for Action
These echoes have alarmed global watchdogs. Ten UN Special Rapporteurs warned in July 2025 that the crackdown constitutes “ongoing crimes against humanity.” Amnesty International echoes this urgency, imploring UN member states to demand an immediate halt to all executions during the October 30 Third Committee dialogue on Iran. Recommendations include quashing unfair death sentences, revoking lethal drug laws, and pursuing universal jurisdiction arrests for torturers.
Iran HRM and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) amplify the prisoners’ “Testament of Qezel Hesar,” a call for public rallies outside Iran’s parliament on October 19 and worldwide solidarity under #StopExecutionsInIran and #SOS1500DeathRowInIran. As strikers sew their lips in silent protest and families are barred from gravesides, the world faces a stark choice: intervene now, or witness history’s silent rerun. Silence equals complicity. The international community must condition ties with Tehran on ending this spree—before another midnight tolls in Qezel Hesar.
