Action Against Executions; 10 Civil Organizations Join Weekly Hunger Strike of Political Prisoners in Iran

Following the announcement of a joint action by several political prisoners in Qazalhessar prison for a hunger strike on Tuesdays in protest against the issuance and execution of death sentences by the Islamic Republic, 10 labor and social organizations announced they would join this weekly protest. According to the Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Associations on Tuesday, February 13, 10 labor and social organizations issued a statement inviting 'all freedom-loving and equality-seeking political forces' to join the 'Tuesdays of Protest Against Executions.' Previously, 10 political prisoners imprisoned in Qazalhessar had announced that in a weekly protest titled 'Black Tuesdays' against the issuance and execution of death sentences by the judiciary of the Islamic Republic, they would go on hunger strike on Tuesdays; an action that received significant support from a considerable number of political prisoners in other prisons. 'Zartosht Ahmadi Raghb, Jafar Ebrahimi, Ahmadreza Haeri, Laghman Aminpour, Meysam Dehban Zadeh, Saeed Masouri, Reza Mohammadi, Reza Salmanzadeh, Hamzeh Savari, and Sepehr Imam Jomeh' were the prisoners who announced on February 1 that they would go on hunger strike on Tuesdays in protest against the execution process. The Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Associations, which had previously announced its support for this general hunger strike, has reported that 'now 10 other labor and social organizations have joined them.' According to this report, the civil organizations that signed this statement have called on 'all freedom-loving and equality-seeking political forces, workers, teachers, retirees, and revolutionary youth to engage in a widespread and powerful struggle on both domestic and international levels to stop and abolish the death penalty.' The new wave of protests by political prisoners against executions began after the execution of Mohammad Qabdelu, a young protester, with a joint action by political and ideological prisoners in the women's ward of Evin prison for a one-day hunger strike and continued with the announcement of a weekly hunger strike by political prisoners in Qazalhessar. Domestic and international protests against the death penalty in Iran are occurring while the Islamic Republic has intensified the execution of death sentences for prisoners convicted of drug-related crimes and murder, and has increased the issuance of death sentences for political prisoners and protesters, with several of them at risk of execution. Mojahid Korkor, Reza Rasai, Fazl Bahramian, Mehran Bahramian, Mohammad Javad Vafaee Sani, Mansour Dahmarde, and Abbas Daris are among the protesters at risk of execution. Mohammad Moqimi and Sina Yousefi, two legal experts and lawyers, have previously told Voice of America that this action by the Islamic Republic is 'aimed at intimidating society.'