Student Coalition from Seven Universities: “Execution Is Not Justice; It Is the Deliberate Killing of a Human Being Legitimised by the State”

Breathing in Confinement, Wednesday, 19 August 2026: A coalition of student activists and media groups from the universities of Tehran, Beheshti, Allameh Tabataba’i, Iran University of Science and Technology, Khajeh Nasir, Alzahra, and Shiraz has issued a joint statement declaring its opposition to the death penalty in principle and emphasising: “Execution is not justice; it is the deliberate killing of a human being that the state legitimises through the law.”

According to reporters from Breathing in Confinement, the news outlet of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, the coalition stated in its declaration, published on Tuesday, 18 August, that its opposition is not limited to political executions but extends to the death penalty itself.

The statement reads: “Our opposition is not limited to political executions; we oppose the death penalty in principle. No government, court, or law should have the authority to deprive a human being of the right to life.”

The signatories also stressed that different legal and political labels and justifications—from “hudud” and “qisas” to “lawful punishment” and “national security”—do not alter the nature of execution. In the coalition’s view, execution is not merely a form of punishment, but one of the most fundamental instruments of state repression.

The statement further draws a direct connection between repression in the streets, repression in prisons, and the implementation of death sentences, emphasising that opposition to the death penalty forms part of the struggle to end the cycle of state repression and violence.

The coalition also stated that it regards the defence of the right to life as “inseparable from the struggle for freedom, equality, and democracy,” reiterating that no government, court, or law should have the authority to deprive a human being of the right to life.

The statement was jointly issued by student activists and media groups from seven Iranian universities.