On Tuesday, August 20, 2024, hundreds of prisoners in 18 prisons across Iran went on a hunger strike in protest against execution as an inhumane punishment. This comes as the judiciary in Iran has executed over 400 prisoners in Iranian prisons since the beginning of the year 2024. In just the first 15 days of August, 70 prisoners have been hanged in Iranian prisons.
The protest strike of prisoners in Iranian prisons under the campaign ‘Tuesdays Against Execution’ has been ongoing since February 2024. According to a statement released today by participating prisoners, this campaign has entered its thirtieth consecutive week starting this Tyesday, August 20, in prisons such as Evin (Wards 3, 4, 6, and 8), Ghezel hesar (Units 3 and 4), Karaj Central, Khorramabad, Nezam Shiraz, Mashhad, Qaemshahr, Lakan Rasht (female and male wards), Tabriz, Ardabil, Khoy, Naqadeh, Urmia, Salmas, Saqqez, Baneh, Marivan, and Kamyaran.
The protest strike of prisoners in Iranian prisons under the campaign ‘Tuesdays Against Execution’ has been ongoing since February 2024. According to a statement released today by participating prisoners, this campaign has entered its thirtieth consecutive week starting this Tyesday, August 20, in prisons such as Evin (Wards 3, 4, 6, and 8), Ghezel hesar (Units 3 and 4), Karaj Central, Khorramabad, Nezam Shiraz, Mashhad, Qaemshahr, Lakan Rasht (female and male wards), Tabriz, Ardabil, Khoy, Naqadeh, Urmia, Salmas, Saqqez, Baneh, Marivan, and Kamyaran.
The campaign ‘Tuesdays Against Execution’ in prisons, which today is accompanied by a hunger strike by hundreds of prisoners in Iranian prisons, has been from the beginning in opposition and protest against the death penalty as an inhumane punishment, independent of the type of accusation or the motives and beliefs of the condemned, and has set as its goal the abolition of this inhumane punishment.
Excerpt from the statement of the striking prisoners on August 20, 2024: The continuous and expanding nature of this campaign is occurring while the judicial and security authorities of the “execution government” have hanged more than 310 individuals from the beginning of the Iranian year 1403 until now.
“This indicates that the agents of despotism have systematically found their solution to all crises within the confines of the gallows, carrying out their ‘harsh revenge’ by ‘execution’ on the sons and daughters of this land. The additional statement from the striking prisoners reads: “To confront and prevent the continuation of executions, we urge everyone to stand up in any way possible and support the prisoners in this struggle and resistance that has begun from within the prisons.”
The striking prisoners have called for special attention from the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Ms. My Satu, to the inhumane actions, especially executions, in Iran and efforts towards stopping executions and ending this inhumane situation in Iran. The judiciary in Iran continues to extensively employ execution as the most ruthless and inhumane form of punishment. The number of executions in the past calendar year in Iran reached 850 individuals.
