The Ninety-Ninth Week of the Hunger Strike by Tuesdays Against Execution in 55 Prisons Across Iran
16-December-2025
Category: Prisoners
16 December 2025
News Group: Prisoners
Breathing in Confinement — The ninety-ninth week of the hunger strike campaign “Tuesdays Against Execution” marks the continuation of a sustained resistance at the heart of 55 prisons across the country.
Breathing in Confinement, the news outlet of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, considers the death penalty a blatant and irreversible violation of the most fundamental human right — the right to life, a right recognised as the cornerstone of human dignity. No system has the legitimacy to irreversibly take human life. Four decades of experience demonstrate that execution has served solely as a tool for the survival of the ruling regime, for the spread of violence, and for the entrenchment of fear in society. A society seeking reconciliation, lasting peace, and humane coexistence must inevitably separate itself from policies of death. Within this framework, the Tuesdays Against Execution campaign represents an echo of civil resistance and a collective defence of the right to life against the institutionalisation of state violence.
Full Statement of the Ninety-Ninth Week of Tuesdays Against Execution
The Tuesdays Against Execution campaign continues in its ninety-ninth week across 55 different prisons. This week, the campaign coincides with the International Day of Reconciliation — a day that symbolises the end of violence worldwide. Yet in Iran, the authoritarian government continues, at an alarming pace, to replace justice and dialogue with the gallows.
Reconciliation without truth and justice is impossible, and execution represents the negation of justice and the absolute denial of any possibility of social reconciliation.
Now entering its ninety-nine uninterrupted weeks, this campaign persists across 55 prisons nationwide — a collective effort from within prison walls to defend the right to life and confront policies of death.
Over the past week, the oppressive ruling system has intensified executions, carrying out at least 67 executions. Furthermore, over the past 25 days, approximately 271 individuals have been sent to the gallows.
These executions are carried out without fair trials, without effective access to independent legal counsel, and under conditions of media silence. This pattern reflects the institutionalisation of execution as a tool of political and social repression.
During this week, Ramin Zelleh, a political prisoner held in Naqadeh Prison, was sentenced to death by Branch One of the Revolutionary Court of Mahabad on charges of “baghi” (armed rebellion).
Additionally, during the past week, death sentences against six political prisoners held in Qezel Hesar Prison — all members of the Tuesdays Against Execution campaign — namely Babak Alipour, Pouya Ghobadi, Vahid Bani Amerian, Akbar (Shahrokh) Daneshvar-Kar, Mohammad Taghavi, and Abolhassan Montazer, were reissued by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court.
Ehsan Rostami, a well-known activist in the field of books and publishing, was charged with “baghi” on 11 December 2025 and transferred to solitary confinement in Evin Prison — a move that significantly heightens the risk of intensified pressure and the issuance of a death sentence.
In continuation of these repressive measures, the government arrested several participants during a memorial ceremony for the late Khosrow Alikordi, an action consistent with its broader policy of social elimination and intimidation.
The Tuesdays Against Execution campaign, while condemning these escalating executions and acts of repression by the execution-oriented regime, calls upon the people of Iran, awakened consciences, and international human rights institutions to amplify the voices of prisoners facing execution, to republish and follow up on their cases, and to provide practical and media support to their families.
Hunger-Striking Prisons — Ninety-Ninth Week
Tuesday, 16 December 2025
The hunger strike is taking place in the following 55 prisons:
Evin Prison (women’s and men’s wards), Qezel Hesar Prison (Units 2, 3, and 4), Central Karaj Prison, Fardis Karaj Prison, Greater Tehran Prison, Qarchak Prison, Khorin Varamin Prison, Choobindar Qazvin Prison, Ahar Prison, Arak Prison, Langerud Qom Prison, Khorramabad Prison, Borujerd Prison, Yasuj Prison, Asadabad Isfahan Prison, Dastgerd Isfahan Prison, Sheiban Ahvaz Prison, Sepidar Ahvaz Prison (women’s and men’s wards), Nezam Shiraz Prison, Adelabad Shiraz Prison (women’s and men’s wards), Firoozabad Fars Prison, Dehdasht Prison, Zahedan Prison (women’s and men’s wards), Borazjan Prison, Ramhormoz Prison, Behbahan Prison, Bam Prison, Yazd Prison, Kahnuj Prison, Tabas Prison, Central Birjand Prison, Mashhad Prison, Sabzevar Prison, Gonbad-e Kavus Prison, Qaemshahr Prison, Rasht Prison (women’s and men’s wards), Rudsar Prison, Haviq Talesh Prison, Azbarom Lahijan Prison, Diesel Abad Kermanshah Prison, 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.
99th week
December 16, 2025