Following the execution of Mohammad Ghobadlou and Farhad Salimi, two political prisoners, 61 political and ideological prisoners in the women’s ward of Evin Prison announced on Tuesday, January 21 that “the news of the execution of Iranian youth has sparked a wave of anger and protest in society. Political and ideological female prisoners at Evin Prison will go on a general hunger strike on Thursday, January 25, in protest of the recent executions and to demand the ‘halt of executions.'”
The execution of two political prisoners on the morning of Tuesday, January 23, has sparked anger and protest on social media, with observers considering these executions as the Iranian regime’s “vengeance” against the people of Iran following the “killing of its terrorists” in the region.
Following this hunger strike, a large number of political and civil activists inside and outside Iran declared their support and solidarity with this strike.
On Wednesday, January 24, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, quoting “one of her close associates,” wrote that political prisoner Zeynab Jalalian, who is serving a life sentence in Yazd Prison, will go on a hunger strike on Thursday in protest of the executions and to demand the “halt of executions.”
According to this close associate of Zeynab Jalalian, despite her “isolated conditions” in Yazd Prison and severe restrictions on her phone calls, she said that on Wednesday, after learning about the execution of political and ideological prisoners in the past few months and in support of the public’s demand to abolish death sentences in Iran, she will also go on a hunger strike along with 61 female political and ideological prisoners in Yazd Prison.
At the same time, more than 110 retired teachers, cultural figures, and labor and civil activists have announced in a statement their support for the protests against the implementation of death sentences in Iran and declared that they will go on a hunger strike on Friday, January 26.
The statement reads: “We, a group of activist educators and labor activists, in protest against the wrong policies of the ruling authorities and extensive injustices, and in solidarity with imprisoned women, civil activists, and political activists who went on a hunger strike on Thursday, January 25, will go on a hunger strike on Friday.”
The signatories of the statement also demanded the “unconditional abolition of death sentences” and referred to it as “one of the fundamental demands in seeking justice and freedom.”
Amirhossein Moradi and Ali Younesi, elite students of Sharif Industrial University who have spent the past four years in prison on false charges, announced that they have joined the hunger strike along with 61 female political and ideological prisoners in the women’s ward of Evin Prison to demand the cessation of executions.
These two elite students were arrested on April 10, 2020, and after enduring severe torture and prolonged detention, they were each sentenced to 16 years in prison by the Islamic Revolutionary Court.
