41st Week of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” Campaign Across 24 Prisons in Iran

This week marks the beginning of the 41st consecutive week of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign, a hunger strike movement initiated by prisoners in Ghezel Hesar prison to protest Iran’s ongoing executions. What started in Ghezel Hesar has now spread to 24 prisons across Iran.

Halting executions in Iran has become a shared goal for Iranians, the international community, and especially for prisoners throughout the country. In recent weeks, families of death row prisoners have also joined this movement, rallying in support from outside prison walls.

October alone saw the highest number of executions in a single month in at least two decades. Although 2024 is not yet over, this year’s execution count is nearing 700.

This week, the campaign announced in a statement, “Since last week, at least 23 people have been hanged. Among those executed was a Jewish compatriot prisoner named Arvin Ghahremani in Dieselabad Prison in Kermanshah, who had been sentenced to death in a very ambiguous and unjust judicial process.

Below is a full translation of the statement released for the 41st Tuesday of the “No to Execution” campaign:

“Week 41 of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” Campaign Across 24 Prisons

Warning on Defendants in the Ekbatan Case Tried Behind Closed Doors

In Iran’s authoritarian regime, the use of executions and harsh repression against citizens and prisoners continues unchecked, with no deviation from this brutal approach. Since the start of October, close to 56 prisoners have been executed, with at least 23 people being hanged since last week, including Arvin Ghahremani, a Jewish prisoner who was executed in Kermanshah’s Dieselabad Prison following a highly questionable and unjust trial process.

Yesterday, the closed-door trials of eight young detainees from the 2022 protests, part of what is known as the “Ekbatan case,” were also held. Given the serious charges against them, there is a grave concern that they could face death sentences.

Now in its forty-first week, the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign has expanded across 24 prisons throughout Iran. Recently, both Iranians inside the country and expatriates have held gatherings in solidarity with the campaign, underscoring the Iranian people’s steadfast commitment to abolishing the inhumane death penalty.

As noted in last week’s report, four members of the Baluch compatriots, Eidou Shahbakhsh, Abdolghani Shahbakhsh, Abdolrahim Ghanbarzehi, and Soleiman Shahbakhsh, who have supported this campaign, had their death sentences upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court. Their cases have been sent to the Execution of Sentences Department of District 33, meaning they could face the gallows at any moment.

With the accelerating pace of state-led executions, all activists in various fields must raise their voices louder than ever to halt and abolish the death penalty in Iran. It is essential to expose and hold accountable those responsible for driving this machinery of death, compelling them to answer for their crimes before the global community. This goal is only achievable through the collective resistance of free people and all political, human rights, labor, and civil society activists for whom halting these executions is a critical mission.

The forty-first “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign will be observed on Tuesday, November 5, in 24 prisons across Iran, with prisoners going on hunger strike.

The participating prisons include:

– Evin Prison (women’s ward, wards 4 and 8)

– Qezel Hesar Prison (units 3 and 4)

– Karaj Central Prison

– Greater Tehran Prison

– Arak Prison

– Khorramabad Prison

– Asadabad Prison, Isfahan

– Sheiban Prison, Ahvaz

– Nezam Prison, Shiraz

– Bam Prison

– Kahnuj Prison