Eight Death Row Prisoners in Qazalhasar Join 'No to Execution' Campaign

A joint action by several political prisoners in Qazalhasar, Evin, Khorramabad, Shiraz, and Saqqez for a hunger strike on Tuesdays in protest against the issuance and execution of death sentences by the Islamic Republic has entered its nineteenth week with the joining of eight political prisoners at risk of execution to the 'No to Execution' campaign. According to information received by Voice of America, these eight Sunni political prisoners at risk of execution are being held in Unit 3 of Qazalhasar prison 'in inhumane conditions in a hall known as the suite or solitary confinement for prisoners under death sentences.' The prisoners at risk of execution in Qazalhasar prison in Karaj include four Sunni Baluch prisoners named Ghani Shahbakhsh, Suleiman Shahbakhsh, Abdul Rahim Qanbarzahi (Mirbaluch Zahi), and Aido Shahbakhsh, along with four others named Fereydoun Zakerinasab, Salahuddin Ziaei, Saleh Ziadallah, Abdullah Varia, and Abdul Karim Qanbarzahi. These prisoners are cellmates of Qasem Abasteh, Ayoub Karimi, Farhad Salimi, Davood Abdollahi, Anwar Khazari, and Khosrow Basharat, who have been executed in recent months. Previously, following the announcement of a joint action by several political prisoners in Qazalhasar for a hunger strike on Tuesdays in protest against the issuance and execution of death sentences by the Islamic Republic, ten labor and social organizations announced their support for this weekly protest. According to the Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Associations, ten labor and social organizations issued a statement inviting 'all freedom-seeking and equality-demanding political forces' to join the 'Tuesdays of Protest Against Execution.' Ten political prisoners imprisoned in Qazalhasar 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 has been welcomed by a significant number of political prisoners in other prisons. 'Zartosht Ahmadi Raghb, Jafar Ebrahimi, Ahmadreza Haeri, Loqman Aminpour, Meysam Dehban Zadeh, Saeed Masouri, Reza Mohammadi, Reza Salmanzadeh, Hamzeh Savari, and Sepehr Imam Jom'e' were prisoners who announced on January 30 that they would go on hunger strike on Tuesdays in protest against the execution process. A new wave of protests by political prisoners against executions began after the execution of Mohammad Qabadi, 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 Qazalhasar. Domestic and international protests against the death penalty in Iran come as 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. The U.S. State Department condemned the increase in executions in Iran on January 30, following the execution of four young protesters by the Islamic Republic, and stated that the United States would continue to take actions in coordination with its allies and partners to support the Iranian people who are facing relentless human rights violations by the Islamic Republic government.