The “No To Executions Tuesdays” campaign praises the successful strike at Qezelhesar Prison that saved inmates from the gallows.
The “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign is entering its 91st consecutive week, a powerful testament to the relentless resistance inside Iranian prisons against the regime’s policies of oppression and capital punishment. This week’s action follows a heroic hunger strike by prisoners in Ghezel Hesar Prison, who successfully saved several of their fellow inmates from imminent execution amid a brutal wave of state-sanctioned killings aimed at quelling popular dissent.
The Prisoners’ Statement
Organizers of the campaign praised the steadfastness of prisoners in Unit 2 of Ghezel Hesar Prison, who held a week-long hunger strike under the slogan “No to Execution Tuesdays.” Their resilience forced authorities to return six of their fellow inmates from solitary confinement, where they had been taken in preparation for their executions. The statement described the strike as a “defiance of death,” as the regime could have easily expedited the sentences in retaliation for their resistance.
In a continuation of this mobilization, prisoners’ families held a protest on Sunday, October 19, outside the regime’s parliament to condemn the ongoing policies of repression and execution.
The campaign’s statement frames the struggle as a confrontation with an “anti-human” regime that carries out brutal mass executions. The statistics cited are grim:
- In the past week alone, the regime executed 59 people, including two women and an individual who was a minor at the time of the alleged crime.
- The total number of executions during the Iranian month of Mehr (late September to late October) reached 232.
- This brings the total number of executions since the start of the current Iranian year (March 2025) to over 1,087.
The statement asserts that the “decrepit regime” resorts to savage executions out of fear of a popular uprising. “But their efforts are futile!” it adds. “The resilience of the Ghezel Hesar prisoners and their families has proven they have nothing left to lose and are determined to bring down the gallows and the tyrannical system altogether.”
The campaign saluted the prisoners of Ghezel Hesar Prison’s Unit 2 and called on the international community and human rights organizations to take concrete, practical steps to stop the massacre of prisoners, such as severing diplomatic ties with the regime and forming commissions of inquiry to hold officials accountable for torture and murder. The statement concluded by emphasizing that “inaction in the face of this naked tyranny is complicity in its crimes,” vowing to continue the campaign until executions are completely halted.
