Prisoners’ Hunger Strike Continues Against Wave of Executions
The hunger strike initiated by prisoners continues into its third consecutive week as part of the “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign. On Monday, February 12, 2024, reliable sources confirmed that both political and non-political prisoners across several facilities, including Qezel-Hesar, Evin, Machhad, and Saqqez Prisons, are preparing to resume their protest tomorrow.
This initiative began on Tuesday, January 30, 2024, in the wake of the executions of Mohammad Ghobadlou and Farhad Salimi, two political prisoners of conscience, alongside several other inmates convicted of general crimes in Qezel-Hesar Prison. In a collective act of resistance, death row prisoners in Qezel-Hesar declared:
“We don’t deserve to die… For anyone to hear us, we must go on hunger strike every Tuesday. We chose Tuesday because it is often the last day our cellmates spend with us before being transferred to solitary confinement ahead of execution.”
The hunger strike is a response to the Islamic Republic’s ongoing use of executions as a tool of repression. The campaign seeks to highlight and oppose the systematic and inhumane execution process carried out by the judicial and security apparatus of the Islamic Republic.
In response to the call to action and coinciding with the execution of four Kurdish political prisoners, ten political prisoners in Qezel-Hesar Prison declared: “We will go on hunger strike every Tuesday until this killing machine stops.” Last week, 13 political prisoners in Ward 4 of Evin Prison also announced they had joined the hunger strike.
The campaign has now entered its third week, with a growing number of prisoners in various facilities planning to join the protest tomorrow, marking the third “No to Execution Tuesdays”
The sustained resistance of political prisoners against the Islamic Republic’s execution apparatus comes as reliable sources report an alarming increase in death sentences for political detainees. Many are convicted on charges such as “enmity against God” and “rebellion and armed uprising against the Islamic regime,” reflecting a broader crackdown on dissent in recent weeks.
- Political Prisoners of Qezel-Hesar Prison Hunger Strike to Protest Mass Executions
- Prisoners’ hunger strike continues on Black Tuesdays
- Announcing Support for the Hunger Strike of Political Prisoners in Qezel-Hesar Prison
§ It should be noted that thousands of prisoners are on death row in Qezel-Hesar Prison and other prisons, and nearly 50 political prisoners, namely Khosrow Besharat, Kamran Sheikheh, Anwar Khezri, Mojahed Kourkouri, Reza Rasaei, Mansour Dehmardeh, Fazel Bahramian, Mehran Bahramian, Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, and Abbas Driss, are at risk of execution. A few days ago, four Baluch prisoners, Edo Shahbakhsh, Abdolghani Shahbakhsh, Abdolrahim Ghanbarzehi Gargij, and Soleiman Shahbakhsh were also sentenced to death in Qezel-Hesar Prison. In addition, the Velayat-e Faqih judiciary is issuing death sentences against political prisoners. We can mention the issuance of death sentences against Shahab Nadali in Evin Prison, and Mamusta Mohammad Khezrnejad in Bukan Prison.
§ Since Tuesday of last week, January 29, 2024, political prisoners in Karaj’s Qezel-Hesar Prison have announced that they will go on a hunger strike every Tuesday to protest the widespread executions in this prison and other prisons. Now, political prisoners in other prisons have also announced a hunger strike with them.
