67th Week of “No to Execution Tuesdays”: A Nationwide Protest Against State Violence in Iran

On Tuesday, May 6, 2025, political prisoners across 41 prisons in Iran will once again join the 67th week of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign—a grassroots, prison-led initiative that has become a powerful voice against the Islamic Republic’s systematic use of the death penalty.

This week’s protest comes amid a sharp escalation in state violence: at least 29 prisoners were executed in just the past week, and one citizen, Azim Farrokhvand, was shot dead by security forces during a protest in Dezful. Farrokhvand had been demonstrating alongside others against the execution of two fellow citizens. The campaign has since declared him the first martyr of the “No to Execution” movement.

In a joint statement, the striking prisoners emphasized the growing brutality of the regime and its reliance on capital punishment as a core mechanism of repression. “In the hands of this tyranny,” they wrote, “the weapon of execution is more dangerous than any other.” The statement warns that as the regime faces mounting internal dissent and international isolation, it is intensifying executions to stifle the possibility of public uprisings.

According to the campaign, 15 prisoners were executed on April 30, followed by another 9 on May 4, bringing the total number of executions since the beginning of 2025 to at least 154. The campaign calls these acts a deliberate strategy to instill fear and suppress unrest, rather than enforce justice.

The “No to Execution Tuesdays” movement is now calling on international human rights organizations to pressure their respective governments to condition diplomatic and economic relations with the Iranian regime on the abolition of the death penalty. The campaign insists that silence and inaction from the global community only embolden the regime’s continued violence.

Meanwhile, prisoners from 41 detention centers across the country will hold coordinated hunger strikes as part of this week’s protest. Participating facilities include some of the most notorious prisons in Iran, such as:

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

• Qezel-Hesar, Karaj Central, Greater Tehran, and Khorin Varamin Prisons

• Choobindar Qazvin, Arak, Khorramabad, Isfahan (Asadabad and Dastgerd)

• Sheiban and Sepidar Ahvaz (both women’s and men’s wards)

• Shiraz (Nezam and Adelabad Prisons), Zahedan, Mashhad, Tabas, and more

• Numerous Kurdish cities: Sanandaj, Saqqez, Baneh, Marivan, and Kamyaran

The statement ends with a call to action: “We urge all sectors of society—both inside and outside Iran—to raise their voices in every way possible against the machinery of execution. This is not just a matter of justice; it is a matter of life and death.”