Campaign of 'No to Execution Tuesdays': Turning Qazalhasar Prison into a Killing Ground

Members of the 'No to Execution Tuesdays' campaign announced in a statement on Tuesday, December 25, that the Rudsar Prison in Gilan Province has joined their campaign. The 'No to Execution Tuesdays' campaign, which began last year with the aim of abolishing the death penalty and ending state violence, has gradually expanded with the support of other prisoners and now encompasses 28 prisons in its forty-eighth week. The campaign emphasizes that Qazalhasar Prison in Karaj accounted for 17% of all executions in Iran in 2024, with 158 executions. They referred to this prison as a 'killing ground.' Members of the campaign state that in 2024, the Islamic Republic executed at least 953 individuals by hanging. According to the statement, 33 of these were women. Additionally, the Islamic Republic executed 96 Kurdish citizens and 101 Baloch citizens in the past year. The campaign highlighted the execution of Rahim Barin, a Kurdish political prisoner in Mahabad, 'after 19 years of torture,' and the indictment of Rozgar Bigzadeh Babamiri, a detainee from the 2022 protests, for 'moharebeh and baghi,' which poses a risk of a death sentence for this prisoner in Urmia. The 'No to Execution Tuesdays' campaign noted that the exposure of parts of the crimes and executions in prisons across Iran by this campaign and other political and human rights organizations led to Qazalhasar Prison being placed on the international sanctions list. The U.S. Treasury and State Department announced on December 20 that they have sanctioned Qazalhasar Prison. In a statement from the U.S. State Department, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that Qazalhasar Prison is a site of gross human rights violations, characterized by cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment and punishment of individuals in Iran seeking to exercise their right to freedom of expression. He added that these horrific acts include severe beatings of political prisoners who peacefully protested the rising number of executions in this prison. Previously, some prisons in the Islamic Republic of Iran had also been subjected to U.S. sanctions. The 'No to Execution Tuesdays' campaign stated in its statement that while the government is unable to resolve structural crises and has shut down or partially shut down the country, the execution of sentences continues 'without a day off,' as if the 'machine of slaughter and execution is unstoppable.' Members of this campaign emphasized that the Islamic Republic resorts to repression and executions to 'prevent popular protests' and added that all executions in Iran have a political aspect. The 'No to Execution Tuesdays' campaign, in a statement during the forty-seventh week of the hunger strike of prisoners in 27 prisons across Iran, announced that at least 40 individuals were executed in Iran within just a few days. Data from the 'Information Center on Executions' indicates that despite a global trend toward reducing and abolishing this punishment, the total number of recorded executions worldwide has increased for the third consecutive year. Among these, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq top the execution list. UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, Maïssa Sato, criticized the human rights situation and the rising number of executions in the Islamic Republic's prisons, calling for a reduction in the imposition and issuance of death sentences in accordance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and that it should only be considered for serious crimes.