Campaign 'No to Executions on Tuesdays': 36 Individuals, Including Two Children, Executed in the Past Week

The campaign 'No to Executions on Tuesdays', consisting of hunger-striking prisoners from over 22 prisons in Iran, announced in a statement on October 16 that 'on the occasion of the World Day Against the Death Penalty, the execution regime in Iran executed 7 individuals in various prisons.' According to the statement, on October 10 alone, 19 people were hanged, bringing the total number of executions in the past week to over 36. Two children, Mahdi Barahoui and Ali Shirvani, aged 17 and 15 at the time of their arrest respectively, are among those executed, in violation of the 'Convention on the Rights of the Child.' The statement further noted that on October 13, the Iranian judiciary referred the cases of 8 theft suspects to court with a request for amputation sentences. This level of violence coincided with the 'World Day Against the Death Penalty,' seen as a clear indication of the Iranian government's blatant violation of international human rights and an attempt to instill fear against potential protests and uprisings by the people. The statement praised Ms. Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, for reflecting the warnings of protesting prisoners in the 'No to Executions on Tuesdays' campaign in her recent remarks. However, it emphasized the expectation from Ms. Sato, the Human Rights Council, and all international human rights organizations for 'more urgent and serious actions to stop this killing machine, actions that could save many vulnerable prisoners' lives.' The protesting prisoners involved in this campaign have called on the public and media to abolish the death penalty and combat it, aiming to institutionalize the fight against executions and build 'a free, equal country free from violence and executions, along with peace and democracy with an independent judiciary.' A hunger strike as a form of protest by members of this campaign was held on October 16 in the following prisons: Evin Prison (women's ward, wards 4 and 8), Qezel Hesar Prison (units 3 and 4), Central Karaj Prison, Greater Tehran Prison, Khorramabad Prison, Arak Prison, Asadabad Prison in Isfahan, Shiraz Prison, Bam Prison, Mashhad Prison, Lakan Prison in Rasht (women's and men's wards), Qaemshahr Prison, Ardabil Prison, Tabriz Prison, Urmia Prison, Salmas Prison, Khoy Prison, Naqdeh Prison, Saqez Prison, Baneh Prison, Marivan Prison, Kamyaran Prison. Protests were held in Stockholm, Sweden, calling for the complete abolition of the death penalty in Iran, and 'Protest Saturdays' were organized in several cities in Germany in response to the execution of sentences in Iran. Mazdak Azar stated that the suspension of Sharifeh Mohammadi's death sentence was the result of tireless efforts by activists. Letter from Vrisheh Moradi from Evin: 'Let us not allow the massacres of the 1980s to be repeated.' The UN Special Rapporteur called for unrestricted access to human rights resources in Iran.