On Tuesday, January 28, 2025, the 53rd week and the first week of the second year of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign will take place. On this day, political and non-political prisoners participating in the campaign across 34 prisons in Iran will be on hunger strike. In connection with this event, the campaign issued a statement that includes: “We begin the second year of this campaign under conditions where, during the past Gregorian year, more than 1,000 prisoners were executed… The launch of the ‘No to Execution Tuesdays’ campaign last year came as the wave of executions had become so widespread and unprecedented globally that it could not be considered merely a coincidence or a strictly legal-judicial matter.”
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The campaign’s statement is as follows:
January 28, 2025
The Second Year of the No to Execution Tuesdays Campaign
The 53rd Week of the Hunger Strike by the “No to Execution Tuesdays” Campaign in Iran’s Prisons
“Inauguration of the Second Year of the No to Execution Tuesdays Campaign: A Comprehensive, National, and International Campaign Against Executions”
We, the political and non-political prisoners in 34 prisons across all corners of chained Iran, begin the second year of the No to Execution Tuesdays campaign on Tuesday, January 28, with renewed vigor. In the campaign’s 53rd Tuesday, we go on hunger strike, hoping that our voices from behind the thick prison walls join those of the women, men, and youth of Iran, contributing to the defense of human rights and the abolition of gallows.
We are beginning the second year of this campaign at a time when, during the past Gregorian year, more than 1,000 prisoners were executed, and in Dey (December 21- January 19) alone, the number of executions exceeded 110.
Today, on the anniversary of this campaign, we are on hunger strike while, on Sunday, January 26, two political prisoners and members of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign, Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, who had been sentenced to death, were violently transferred from Evin Prison to Qezel Hesar Prison. According to their lawyers, a request for a retrial in their cases was filed on Monday, January 27. However, based on information received by the campaign, these two political prisoners are now held in the secure ward of Unit 3 in Qezel Hesar Prison, a section designated for prisoners awaiting execution, and they are under imminent threat of execution.
Political prisoners in Qezel Hesar announced their first hunger strike on Tuesday, January 29, 2024, and have consistently maintained the Tuesday hunger strikes for the past year.
The launch of the ‘No to Execution Tuesdays’ campaign last year came as the wave of executions had become so widespread and unprecedented globally that it could not be considered merely a coincidence or a strictly legal-judicial matter.
At the start of the execution wave, an open plea was issued by ordinary prisoners facing death sentences, appealing to all prisoners and the people of Iran to assist in saving their lives and the lives of countless others on death row.
The No to Execution Tuesdays campaign began on the seventh day after the executions of the late Mohammad Qobadlou and Farhad Salimi, political and ideological prisoners in Qezel Hesar. The initial members of the campaign protested against these executions by starting hunger strikes.
This protest movement, now encompassing the majority of prisons in the country, has transcended prison walls and geographic borders thanks to the efforts of our compatriots inside and outside Iran. Numerous human rights organizations, activists, international institutions, and even political movements have expressed their support. Many media outlets and news agencies, in a responsible approach to human rights, publish the campaign’s statements and weekly reports to inform the public.
Professor Javaid Rehman (then the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran) praised this campaign in a message. Similarly, Ms. Mai Sato (the current Special Rapporteur) referred to the No to Execution Tuesdays campaign in a video message (October 10) as “an unwavering commitment to justice and human rights that shines in the face of the regime’s oppressive actions.”
In Iran, the death penalty has ceased to be a legal punishment and has turned into a political tool for suppressing and exacting revenge on the people of Iran. This reality doubles our responsibility to confront repression, torture, and executions, and we hope to fulfill this duty.
In the 53rd week, prisoners in 34 prisons are on hunger strike on Tuesday, January 28, 2025:
- Qezel Hesar Prison (Units 2 and 4)
- Evin Prison (Women’s Ward, Wards 4 & 8)
- Karaj Central Prison
- Khorramabad Prison
- Mashhad Prison
- Saqqez Prison
- Naqadeh Prison
- Khoy Prison
- Tabriz Prison
- Ardabil Prison
- Qaemshahr Prison
- Urmia Prison
- Marivan Prison
- Kamyaran Prison
- Baneh Prison
- Salmas Prison
- Shiraz Nezam Prison
- Lakan Rasht Prison (Men’s and Women’s Wards)
- Greater Tehran Penitentiary
- Asadabad Isfahan Prison
- Bam Prison
- Arak Prison
- Sheyban Ahvaz Prison
- Kahnuj Prison
- Dastgerd Prison, Isfahan
- Tabas Prison
- Khourin Varamin Prison
- Roodsar Prison
- Sepidar Ahvaz Prison
- Ramhormoz Prison
- Haviq Talesh Prison
- Adelabad Prison, Shiraz (Men’s and Women’s Wards)
- Borazjan Prison
- Joveyn Prison
The Second Year of the Campaign, in its 53rd Week
January 28, 2025
#No_to_Execution_Tuesdays Campaign
