On May 13, 2025, as the world goes about its ordinary routines, something extraordinary is unfolding behind the iron bars of 41 prisons in Iran. For the sixty-eighth week in a row, political prisoners have launched a coordinated hunger strike—part of a grassroots protest known as the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign.
This quiet, but powerful act of defiance is their response to an ever-rising tide of state-sanctioned killings. Since April 21, 2025, over 96 prisoners, including one woman, have been executed. That’s at least four executions per day, a pace that paints a grim picture of a regime using the gallows not as justice but as a political weapon.
Among those newly condemned to death are Amin (Peyman) Farahavar Gisavandani, a poet from Gilan, and Ehsan Faridi, a university student in Tabriz. Both have been sentenced under the charges of moharebeh and baghi—vague accusations often reserved for silencing dissent. Their trials lacked transparency and fairness. Most disturbing: they were denied the right to choose their own lawyers.
In their collective statement, the prisoners urge the global community to act. Their call is clear: identify the judges, such as Ahmad Darvish-Goftar, who are complicit in these judicial killings, and bring international pressure to bear through human rights organizations.
“When a regime cannot resolve its political and economic crises, it resorts to executions,” the prisoners write. “But we will not let this machinery of death operate in silence.”
The campaign also mourns a deep personal loss: Barzan Mohammadi, a former political prisoner and early supporter of the movement, recently died in a tragic accident. His name and his cause live on in the campaign’s struggle. The prisoners extend their heartfelt condolences to his family—and recommit themselves to the pursuit of justice in his memory.
This week’s hunger strike spans the country. From Evin Prison in Tehran to Zahedan, Sanandaj, Karaj, Ahvaz, Urmia, and Mashhad, inmates are refusing food to speak a truth louder than words: No to executions. No to silence.
These aren’t isolated cries. They are the echo of a people who have endured decades of repression, who continue to risk everything for freedom, equality, and democracy.
The regime may control the prisons, the courts, and the ropes—but it does not control the spirit of resistance that grows stronger with every act of solidarity, every voice raised, every Tuesday of protest.
In the words of the statement:
“Freedom is the right of a nation that has paid a heavy price.”
