Iran’s ‘Tuesday No to Execution’ hunger‑strike expands to 57 prisons

The prisoners’ campaign “Tuesday No to Execution” entered its 126th week in early July 2024, with inmates in 57 prisons across Iran—including newly‑joined Kerman prison—staging hunger strikes every Tuesday to protest the use of the death penalty. Organisers say the strike now reaches prisons from Tehran and Qazvin to Zahedan, Sanandaj, Yazd and elsewhere.

Human‑rights monitors report that 134 people were executed in May, among them two women, political detainees linked to the 2023 protests, and several Afghan nationals convicted on drug‑related charges. Executions continue in Yazd, Qazvin, Shiraz, Zabol, Zahedan and other facilities, often without transparent procedures, access to counsel, or family notification. The campaign describes the death penalty as a tool of fear used by the regime and warns that recent US‑Iran diplomatic talks omitted any human‑rights provisions.

The strike has drawn public sympathy outside prisons, with citizens and activists displaying slogans such as “No to execution” and “The right to life is non‑negotiable.” International NGOs, including Amnesty International and UN special rapporteurs, have called for an immediate halt to executions and for broader reform of Iran’s capital‑punishment system.