The “Tuesdays Against Executions” campaign, launched on 28 January 2024 in Qezel Hesar Prison, has become the largest and most persistent protest of political prisoners against the execution-driven policy of the ruling regime in Iran. This report provides a concise account of 86 weeks of hunger strikes across 52 prisons, highlighting the origins, expansion, and the legal, social, human, and international dimensions of this movement.
Origins and Expansion
The movement began after the executions of Mohammad Ghobadlou and Farhad Salimi. One week later, political prisoners in Ward 4 of Qezel Hesar went on hunger strike, choosing Tuesday as their symbolic day of protest—because the regime typically transfers death-row prisoners to solitary confinement on Monday nights and executes them at dawn on Tuesdays.
What began in Qezel Hesar quickly spread to other facilities, including Evin, the women’s ward of Evin, Karaj Central, Tabriz, Mashhad, and Saqqez. Within less than two years, the campaign had expanded to 52 prisons, becoming one of the widest-reaching collective protests in the history of Iran’s prisons.
List of Active Prisons
Evin, Qezel Hesar, Karaj Central, Karaj Ferdows, Greater Tehran, Qarchak, Khorin Varamin, Choubindar Qazvin, Ahar, Arak, Khorramabad, Yasouj, Asadabad Isfahan, Dastgerd Isfahan, Sheiban Ahvaz, Sepidar Ahvaz (women and men), Nezam Shiraz, Adelabad Shiraz (women and men), Firouzabad Fars, Dehdasht, Zahedan (women), Borazjan, Ramhormoz, Behbahan, Bam, Yazd, Kahnooj, Tabas, Mashhad, Sabzevar, Gonbad Kavous, Qaem Shahr, Rasht (women and men), Roudsar, Haviq Talesh, Azbarm Lahijan, Dizel Abad Kermanshah, Ardabil, Tabriz, Urmia, Salmas, Khoy, Naqadeh, Miandoab, Mahabad, Boukan, Saqqez, Baneh, Marivan, Sanandaj, Kamyaran, and Langroud Qom.
Mechanisms of Protest and the Role of Families
The campaign has been sustained through weekly hunger strikes and collective statements. Every Tuesday, prisoners issue joint declarations condemning executions and calling for continued resistance.
Families of prisoners—especially mothers—have played a critical role. Despite threats of arrest and loss of visitation rights, they gather weekly in front of prisons holding placards reading “No to Executions.” Their presence has been a vital bridge between the prison walls and society at large.
One mother said:
“Every Tuesday, when I know my son is refusing food, my heart trembles. But when I read that he and dozens of others are a voice of protest, I feel proud of him.”
Domestic and International Support
The prisoners’ voices soon resonated globally:
– Javaid Rehman, former UN Special Rapporteur: “We must all strive to have the courage of those who began these protests in Qezel Hesar.”
– Mai Sato, current UN Special Rapporteur: “This campaign demonstrates an unwavering commitment to justice and human rights.”
– Nine Nobel Peace Laureates (October 2024) called for an immediate halt to executions.
– 114 members of the Belgian Parliament and 580 French mayors issued statements of support.
– The Foreign Ministers of Germany, France, and the United States expressed solidarity with the striking prisoners.
Inside Iran, 11 teachers’ associations published a joint statement of support, and imprisoned students such as Ali Younesi and Amir Hossein Moradi voiced their solidarity with the campaign.
Martyrs and Prisoners’ Reactions
The secret executions of political prisoners Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani in the summer of 2025 marked a turning point. Their final words—“We do not bargain with the executioner over our lives; we sacrifice them for freedom”—became a lasting slogan of resistance.
Prisoners issued a statement after the executions:
“The blood of Behrouz and Mehdi is proof of the legitimacy of our campaign. The regime sought to frighten us, but their voices grew louder.”
Saeed Massouri, Iran’s longest-held political prisoner, wrote in a letter:
“On Christmas Day, the regime executed 25 prisoners. That was their blood-soaked message. But we, too, have a message: as long as we breathe, we will continue our Tuesday hunger strikes to show that life and freedom cannot be silenced by the noose.”
The sudden transfer of student activist Ali Younesi to an unknown location also triggered widespread concern and protest among political prisoners, who condemned the act as enforced disappearance. Weeks later, he was located in Qezel Hesar, but the episode remains a symbol of the intensified pressure on political detainees.
Legal Analysis
The “Tuesdays Against Executions” campaign highlights systematic violations of international human rights law:
1. Right to Life – Article 6 of the ICCPR.
2. Right to a Fair Trial – Article 14 of the ICCPR.
3. Prohibition of Torture – Convention Against Torture (CAT).
4. Enforced Disappearance – International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
Additionally, denial of medical care, long-term solitary confinement, and improper prisoner segregation breach the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules).
Human and Social Impact
For families, Tuesdays bring both anxiety and pride: fear for their loved ones’ health, and honor in their courage. Weekly family protests outside prisons amplify this human dimension.
Beyond the prison walls, Tuesdays have become a national symbol of resistance. After the execution of political prisoner Mehran Bahramian in Semirom, local shopkeepers went on strike, demonstrating that the prisoners’ voice has reached the streets.
Latest Developments – Week 86
On Tuesday, 16 September 2025, prisoners in 52 prisons marked the 86th week of the campaign. Their statement declared:
– We honor the memory of Jina (Mahsa) Amini and all those killed during the 2022 nationwide protests.
– We also commemorate Navid Afkari, executed on 12 September 2020, whose name remains a symbol of defiance.
– We strongly condemn the death sentences issued against Pezhman Toubere Rizi (on fabricated charges of “corruption on earth”) and Naser Bakrzadeh, a Kurdish political prisoner, and call on the human rights community to oppose these unlawful rulings.
The statement added:
“Over the past three years, more than 3,175 people have been executed—49 political or ideological prisoners and 95 women. In the past week alone, 34 executions took place. This ongoing catastrophe underscores the urgent responsibility of the international community to act.”
Conclusion and Call to Action
The “Tuesdays Against Executions” campaign has become the emblem of Iran’s expanding prison protest movement against the regime’s machinery of death. It proves that even under torture and the shadow of the gallows, a collective voice of defiance can resonate worldwide.
We call on the UN Human Rights Council, the European Parliament, and democratic governments to launch urgent investigations and exert maximum diplomatic pressure on the Iranian regime to halt executions immediately.
This is a voice that could not be silenced—and it will continue until the day the chains are broken.
