“Tuesdays Against Execution” Hunger Strike: Continued Resistance to Structural Violence
2-June-2026
Category: Hunger Strike of Political Prisoners
2 June 2026
News Category: Political Prisoners’ Hunger Strike
Breathing in Confinement: Despite increasing security pressure, the Tuesdays Against Execution hunger strike by political prisoners has reached its 123rd consecutive week across 56 prisons throughout Iran.
According to Breathing in Confinement, the news outlet of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, at a time when economic and social crises continue to deepen, the state’s persistent reliance on capital punishment and repression raises serious questions about the status of human dignity and the right to life. What is unfolding inside prisons and among the families of political prisoners is not merely a collection of judicial cases; rather, it reflects a broader reality in which the principles of fair trial and the protection of human life remain under constant threat.
Reports of executions, pressure on prisoners’ families, and actions taken against dissenters point to a pattern that extends beyond isolated incidents and suggests a structural response to ongoing crises. In this context, prisons have increasingly become spaces for civil resistance and human rights advocacy, where even limited expressions of protest carry significance far beyond prison walls.
The Tuesdays Against Execution campaign has emerged within this context as an effort to reaffirm the importance of the right to life and the need for accountability regarding punishments carried out without guarantees of fair judicial process.
Full Statement by the Political Prisoners
Continuation of the “Tuesdays Against Execution” Campaign in 56 Prisons During Its 123rd Week
As is evident, the economic situation in society continues to deteriorate day by day. Faced with deepening and seemingly intractable crises, the government persists in relying on repression and executions in an effort to prevent an explosion of public anger and any spark of uprising or protest. Through its media outlets, the authorities pre-emptively attribute potential unrest to foreign countries in order to justify the suppression and killing of citizens. This has been the state’s recurring approach to popular uprisings, including the January protests.
Tragically, during the past week, two Kurdish brothers from the Yarsan community, Mojtaba and Meysam Veisi, lost their lives following an attack by members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on their hiding place. They had been pursued by security forces following the January uprising and had been compelled to live in hiding.
More recently, the Ministry of Intelligence has reportedly summoned, threatened, insulted, bribed, and detained numerous family members of political prisoners and opponents of the death penalty in an attempt to silence them.
Yesterday, two political prisoners arrested during this year’s January protests, Ashkan Maleki and Mehrdad Mohammadinia, were executed in Ghezel Hesar Prison, joining the ranks of those who sacrificed their lives in pursuit of freedom.
During the past week, the death sentence of Zahra Tabari,a political prisoner held in Lakan Prison in Rasht, was once again upheld. Two political prisoners from Bukan, Raouf Sheikh Maroufi and Mohammad Faraji, have also been sentenced to death. In addition, death sentences have reportedly been issued by Branch 26, presided over by Judge Afshari, against Benjamin Naqdi, one of those arrested during the January protests, as well as two brothers, Hassan and Hossein Amiri. All of these individuals, along with many other prisoners whose names have not been made public, face a serious risk of execution.
We, the members of the Tuesdays Against Execution campaign, once again call upon prisoners throughout the country, the honourable and aware people of Iran, and all people of conscience around the world to raise their voices against the extrajudicial and brutal executions carried out by Iran’s authoritarian government without the guarantees of a fair trial. We also call upon international human rights organisations to take effective action to prevent further executions of prisoners.
The Tuesdays Against Execution campaign reports that on Tuesday, 2 June 2026, during its 123rd week, prisoners in the following 56 prisons are participating in the hunger strike:
Evin Prison (women’s and men’s wards), Ghezel Hesar Prison (Units 2, 3 and 4), Karaj Central Prison, Fardis Prison (Karaj), Greater Tehran Prison, Qarchak Prison, Khorin Prison (Varamin), Choubindar Prison (Qazvin), Ahar Prison, Arak Prison, Langarud Prison (Qom), Khorramabad Prison, Borujerd Prison, Yasuj Prison, Asadabad Prison (Isfahan), Dastgerd Prison (Isfahan), Sheiban Prison (Ahvaz), Sepidar Prison (Ahvaz, women’s and men’s wards), Nezam Prison (Shiraz), Adelabad Prison (Shiraz, women’s and men’s wards), Firuzabad Prison (Fars), Dehdasht Prison, Zahedan Prison (women’s and men’s wards), Borazjan Prison, Ramhormoz Prison, Behbahan Prison, Bam Prison, Yazd Prison (women’s and men’s wards), Kahnuj Prison, Tabas Prison, Birjand Central Prison, Mashhad Prison, Gorgan Prison, Sabzevar Prison, Gonbad-e Kavus Prison, Qaemshahr Prison, Rasht Prison (women’s and men’s wards), Rudsar Prison, Havigh Prison (Talesh), Azbarom Prison (Lahijan), Dizelabad Prison (Kermanshah), Ardabil Prison, Tabriz Prison, Urmia Prison, Salmas Prison, Khoy Prison, Naqadeh Prison, Miandoab Prison, Mahabad Prison, Bukan Prison, Saqqez Prison, Baneh Prison, Marivan Prison, Sanandaj Prison, Kamyaran Prison, and Ilam Prison.
Week 123
Tuesday, 2 June 2026