A Narrative of Resistance and Courage That Is Spreading

This report on the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign has been written on the basis of my conversations with a number of family members of political prisoners in Ghezel Hesar Prison, as well as news reports published in the media about the campaign. It may therefore be regarded as an exclusive, firsthand account of the ongoing “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign as reflected in the media.

Before this, the most significant initiative against the death penalty had taken place in 2013 with the “Step-by-Step Abolition of the Death Penalty” campaign (LEGAM). In the autumn of that year, eight political, civil, and cultural activists declared in a public call: “In an inevitable tomorrow, educational necessity will compel us, the people of Iran, to accept this self-evident principle: that we must refrain from executing criminals and suspects of every kind and category, and instead adopt constructive rehabilitative methods.”

Severe security repression against the signatories of that appeal, as well as the deaths of some of the campaign’s influential figures such as Simin Behbahani, Fariborz Raees-Dana, and Mohammad Maleki, did not prevent the pursuit of this civil demand. With the involvement of figures such as Narges Mohammadi, the LEGAM campaign continued. Now, the cry of “No to Execution” has found a renewed resonance through a campaign emerging from within the prisons of the Islamic Republic.

Report on the “No to Execution Tuesdays” Campaign

It was on 3 September 2023 that the media reported the exile of a number of political prisoners from Evin Prison to Ghezel Hesar Prison—a prison that until then had been known as the largest prison for drug offenders in Iran, and perhaps in the whole of West Asia. Yet it did not take long for Ghezel Hesar to become known in the media and public opinion not as a prison for drug offenders, but as the principal center of resistance against execution as an inhumane punishment.

But how did this transformation take shape? Less than six months after the transfer of political prisoners including Jafar Ebrahimi, Ahmadreza Haeri, Zartosht Ahmadi Ragheb, Reza Salmanzadeh, Saeed Masouri, Hamzeh Savari, Sepehr Emam Jomeh, Meysam Dehbanzadeh, Loqman Aminpour, and Reza Mohammadhosseini from Evin Prison to Ghezel Hesar Prison, and despite the pressure and repression that followed their exile, they formed a campaign titled “No to Execution Tuesdays.” A campaign that has now spread to more than 23 prisons across Iran, and which, on 28 August 2024, received support in a major statement issued by 68 Iranian and international human rights groups and organizations.

“In the first twenty days of exile, the 10 political prisoners were sent to the secure ward cells in Unit Three of Ghezel Hesar Prison—cells designated for prisoners under death sentence, or what was known as the ward for ‘execution-bound prisoners.’ During those twenty days, they were also in contact with Sunni prisoners, including seven men who were executed in the months that followed. One night, the Sunni prisoners even invited them to dinner. It was after that that prison authorities completely banned the exiled prisoners from leaving their ward.

After the exiled prisoners were transferred to Ward 21 in Unit Four of Ghezel Hesar, they came face to face with the catastrophe of mass executions of drug-related prisoners and the scale of those executions. Around late November 2023, the wave of executions—which had temporarily paused after the closure of Rajai Shahr Prison and the transfer of its prisoners to Unit Three of Ghezel Hesar—resumed, and concerns intensified about the possible execution of prisoners of conscience and other detainees.

When Ahmadreza Haeri learned that Ghasem Abesteh and other prisoners had been moved to solitary confinement for the implementation of their death sentences, he published an open letter describing the violation of their rights by judges such as Salavati and Moghiseh. But the executions continued, and in addition to Ghasem Abesteh, Davood Abdollahi, and Ayoub Karimi, dozens of other prisoners were executed on drug-related charges. Even then, the group of ten exiled political prisoners was trying to find a collective way to oppose the executions, but they had not yet arrived at a concrete plan.”

What appears above are the words of one family member of a political prisoner in Ghezel Hesar, relaying the testimony of the imprisoned person. The family member continued:

“The prisoners exiled to Ghezel Hesar were under enormous psychological pressure in those days to do something in the face of this machinery of execution. Some people—such as Saeed Masouri, Hamzeh Savari, Loqman Aminpour, Saman Yasin, and others—had spent years in the same cells in Rajai Shahr with some of those who were later executed. They knew them well and were convinced of their innocence. Others had held lengthy conversations with them during the period they were in the secure ward.”

As these pressures mounted, a turning point came on 23 January 2024, the day Farhad Salimi, a Kurdish prisoner of conscience, and Mohammad Ghobadlou, one of those detained during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests, were suddenly executed, along with a number of prisoners convicted of drug-related offenses, without prior public notice of their transfer to solitary confinement.

These executions had a profound impact on the prisoners. In response, the women’s ward of Evin Prison announced a one-day hunger strike on 25 January 2024, and a number of political prisoners in Ghezel Hesar joined it. Nonetheless, the prisoners in Ghezel Hesar concluded that, in order to confront the escalating pace of executions, they needed a more sustained and organized form of action.

Within this context, Ahmadreza Haeri wrote a letter on 25 January to two political and professional bodies—the Reform Front and the Coordinating Council of Teachers’ Associations—arguing, with reference to the denial of fair trial rights to prisoners on death row, that “the most effective way to confront this inhumane trend is to raise the voice of ‘No to Execution.’”

Eventually, this idea was formulated more concretely: to organize a collective hunger strike on one fixed day each week. This proposal, reportedly put forward by prisoners including Ahmadreza Haeri and Jafar Ebrahimi, was welcomed by the other prisoners.

On 29 January 2024, the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign was officially launched with the announcement of a hunger strike by 10 political prisoners in Ghezel Hesar. The first Tuesday after that date became the fixed point of weekly action, and from then on the protest continued on a sustained basis.

Regarding why Tuesday was chosen for the campaign, one of the family members of the political prisoners explained:

“The prisoners are trying, through this campaign, to draw the attention of society, human rights activists, and the media to the abolition of the death penalty. They hope to send the message, both domestically and internationally, that execution is being used as a tool of repression against society. Tuesday was also chosen because it symbolizes the last day of life for prisoners on the verge of execution and stands as a sign of resistance to this inhumane punishment.”

Based on a review and analysis of the statements and letters published by the political prisoners of Ghezel Hesar in connection with this campaign, their principal demands may be summarized in four areas:

1. Greater attention to the execution of prisoners convicted of non-political offenses
2. Emphasis on collective action as a condition of success
3. The necessity of continuity and sustained collective action
4. Greater attention to little-known political and prisoners of conscience who are under sentence of death

What follows allows the continuation of the campaign to be traced in more precise detail.

On 28 January 2024, an anonymous appeal and call for help from prisoners under sentence of death was published; as they themselves had emphasized, revealing their names could accelerate the implementation of their death sentences. One day later, on 29 January 2024, the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign was officially launched with the declaration of a hunger strike by 10 political prisoners in Ghezel Hesar.

On 1 March 2024, amid the atmosphere surrounding the twelfth parliamentary elections, Ahmadreza Haeri published a detailed and documented account of the last Tuesday in the life of a prisoner under sentence of death, a letter that received broad media attention. Around the same time, Loqman Aminpour’s open letter, marking the fortieth day since the execution of his fellow townsman Farhad Salimi, was published, exposing part of the reality surrounding those executions.

On 19 March 2024, political prisoners in Ghezel Hesar stressed in a statement that “opposing execution is only possible through unity and collective action,” and emphasized the continuation of this path in the year 2024–25.

As the new Iranian year began, the campaign entered a new phase. On 8 May 2024, in response to the death sentence issued against Toomaj Salehi, the prisoners declared in a statement: “Toomaj’s death sentence is the tip of the iceberg of human rights violations in Iran.” In addition to the original signatories, the imprisoned singer and rapper Saman Yasin also joined this statement.

On 14 May 2024, reacting to the execution of Khosrow Basharat, the prisoners described in a statement his 14-day detention in solitary confinement prior to execution as a form of compounded violence. At the same time, Saeed Masouri also addressed the matter in an open letter that received media attention.

On 23 May 2024, in response to the release of Hamid Nouri, the prisoners condemned what they described as “the Islamic Republic’s hostage-taking and Western appeasement toward human rights violations in Iran.”

As these hunger strikes continued, participation in the campaign steadily expanded. For example, on 4 June 2024, seven Sunni prisoners in Unit Three of Ghezel Hesar joined the campaign; all of them were themselves at risk of execution.

On 2 July 2024, with the announced participation of a number of political prisoners from Tabriz Prison, the number of prisons involved in the campaign rose to nine.

On 6 August 2024, 19 political prisoners in Lakan Prison in Rasht, along with all women political prisoners in the women’s ward of Evin Prison, joined the campaign and declared a hunger strike in protest against the death sentences issued for Pakhshan Azizi and Sharifeh Mohammadi.

Subsequently, 68 Iranian and international human rights organizations issued a joint statement announcing their support for the campaign. With the subsequent participation of prisons including Asadabad Prison in Isfahan and Bam Prison in Kerman, the campaign spread to more than 20 prisons. In later stages, a considerable number of human rights and political activists outside the country also expressed support for the movement through public statements.

This path—born of resistance against pressure and repression, grounded in initiative, persistence, and collective action—continues. In response, security authorities have resorted to measures such as repeated suspension of phone access, restrictions on leave, transfers to security wards, solitary confinement, and the filing of new cases against some prisoners. Among them, Ahmadreza Haeri has faced charges of “propaganda against the regime” and “spreading falsehoods,” while Zartosht Ahmadi Ragheb has also received an additional sentence for sending protest messages from inside prison.

It should be noted that Jafar Ebrahimi, one of the original signatories of the campaign, was released from prison on 27 April 2024 after completing his sentence, while the other signatories remain in detention.