Reports from Iran indicate that the hunger strike by death row prisoners at Ghezel Hesar Prison, launched in protest over the possible execution of six prisoners, is continuing.
According to reports by human rights organizations, the hunger strike, which began on July 13 and continued at least through July 16, calls for halting the execution of six prisoners convicted of drug-related offenses who, according to the organization, have been transferred to solitary confinement ahead of their executions.
Prison authorities have reportedly refused to transfer several of the hunger strikers to the prison infirmary despite the deterioration of their health.
Images published on social media show prisoners holding placards reading “No to Execution.”
Ward 2 of Ghezel Hesar Prison holds about 1,500 prisoners sentenced to death on drug-related charges.
This is not the first such large-scale collective hunger strike. In October 2025, more than 1,500 prisoners in this ward staged a six-day hunger strike to protest executions and sewed their lips shut to demand an end to the executions.
Following that hunger strike, and at the same time as protests by prisoners’ families outside the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament), prison authorities and the judiciary promised the hunger strikers that executions for drug-related offenses at this prison would be suspended until the law was amended.
Iranian regime officials and the authorities of Ghezel Hesar Prison have not yet issued any response regarding the reported hunger strike.
Amnesty International announced in May 2026 that Iran’s regime executed a record 2,159 people in 2025, a record figure in recent decades.
