One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth Week of Resistance: Political Prisoners Continue Hunger Strike Against the Execution Machine
24-June-2026
Category: Hunger Strike of Political Prisoners
One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth Week of Resistance: Political Prisoers Continue Hunger Strike Against the Execution Machine
23 June 2026
News Category: Protests – Political Prisoners’ Hunger Strike
Breathing in Confinement: As the Tuesdays Against Execution campaign continues, political prisoners have once again raised their voices against the death penalty, drawing the attention of both domestic and international audiences. The campaign has become a symbol of civil resistance against the escalating cycle of violence and deprivation of the right to life. With the recent participation of prisoners from Kerman Prison, it has now expanded to 57 prisons across Iran.
According to Breathing in Confinement, the news outlet of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, at a time when the right to life is recognised as the most fundamental human right under international law, the continued and expanding use of the death penalty in Iran represents not only a clear violation of legal obligations but also a systematic assault on human dignity and the collective conscience of humanity. In these circumstances, political prisoners, driven by a sense of historical and moral responsibility, continue to raise their voices from behind prison walls through the Tuesdays Against Execution campaign, protesting against the cycle of violence and death.
This hunger strike is not merely an act of protest; it is a living declaration of suffering, resilience, and the pursuit of justice. It is a voice emerging from within the prisons, seeking to break silence and indifference while reminding the world that justice becomes meaningless without respect for the right to life. Today, more than ever, there is an urgent need for national solidarity and international responsibility in confronting this alarming trend.
Full Statement of the Political Prisoners:
Kerman Prison Joins the Tuesdays Against Execution Campaign
The Tuesdays Against Execution Campaign Continues into Its 126th Week Across 57 Prisons
At a time when human dignity should be the foundation of law, justice, and governance, the execution machinery of Iran’s execution-oriented regime continues to operate at full speed. According to reports received, on 7 June, two women aged 28 and 32, identified as Asieh Farahmand and Zeinab Zarini, were executed in Qazvin Prison. Due to the lack of transparent reporting, news of their executions only recently reached us.
Furthermore, on 16 June, two political prisoners arrested during this year’s January protests in Shahroud, Abolfazl Saedi and Javad Zamani, were executed. As a result, the number of prisoners executed over the past thirty days has risen to 134.
The death penalty in Iran is not a tool for achieving justice; rather, it serves as a mechanism for spreading fear, silencing dissenting voices, and consolidating an authoritarian power structure.
At the same time, following months of military conflict and the heavy burden it imposed on the people of Iran, the ruling clerical establishment and the United States reached a preliminary understanding in recent weeks. Based on the published provisions, no attention was given to human rights, repression, or the alarming wave of executions in Iran. This demonstrates that the people of Iran must rely on themselves to bring about change.
Amnesty International and the UN Special Rapporteur, Ms. Mai Sato, together with several United Nations experts, have issued separate statements warning against the continued disregard for human rights violations in Iran and the ongoing impunity enjoyed by perpetrators of abuses against the Iranian people.
We address all people of conscience, international institutions, human rights defenders, and opponents of the death penalty:
We, the prisoners participating in the Tuesdays Against Execution campaign, which has continued uninterrupted every Tuesday for 126 weeks across prisons throughout Iran, have protested against these medieval executions through hunger strikes and every means available to us.
Once again, we declare that the human rights of the people of Iran, particularly those of prisoners, are not negotiable. Alongside the people of Iran, we will continue to defend freedom, equality, and the abolition of the death penalty with our last breath and all our strength.
We call upon the people of Iran, awakened consciences around the world, and international human rights organisations not to remain indifferent to the escalating wave of executions in Iran and to take responsible and effective action to stop this organised crime perpetrated by the ruling religious fascism.
History has shown that no tyranny has endured through violence alone, and no government has succeeded in silencing the people’s demand for justice forever. What endures are the ideals of freedom, equality, and respect for the right to life and human dignity—values for which the people of Iran have paid a heavy price and continue to uphold.
The Tuesdays Against Execution campaign informs the public that a group of prisoners in Kerman Prison has also joined the campaign in protest against death sentences and now participates in the weekly Tuesday hunger strikes alongside prisoners in other facilities.
The Tuesdays Against Execution campaign announced that on Tuesday, 23 June 2026, during its 126th week, prisoners in the following 57 prisons were participating in the hunger strike:
Evin Prison (men’s and women’s wards), Ghezel Hesar Prison (Units 2, 3, and 4), Central Karaj Prison, Fardis Prison (Karaj), Greater Tehran Penitentiary, Qarchak Prison, Khorin Prison (Varamin), Choobindar 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, men’s and women’s wards), Nezam Prison (Shiraz), Adelabad Prison (Shiraz, men’s and women’s wards), Firouzabad Prison (Fars), Dehdasht Prison, Zahedan Prison (men’s and women’s wards), Borazjan Prison, Ramhormoz Prison, Behbahan Prison, Bam Prison, Yazd Prison (men’s and women’s wards), Kahnuj Prison, Tabas Prison, Central Birjand Prison, Mashhad Prison, Gorgan Prison, Sabzevar Prison, Gonbad-e Kavus Prison, Qaemshahr Prison, Rasht Prison (men’s and women’s wards), Rudsar Prison, Havigh Prison (Talesh), Azbaram Prison (Lahijan), Dizel Abad 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, Ilam Prison, and Kerman Prison.
Week 126
Tuesday, 23 June 2026
Tuesdays Against Execution Campaign