Participation of Prisoners from 16 Prisons in the 'Black Tuesdays' Campaign; 26 Weeks of Hunger Strike in Protest Against Executions in Iran

The human rights campaign 'No to Executions Tuesdays' continued in its twenty-sixth week in several prisons across Iran, with prisoners in Urmia, Marivan, Kamyaran, Baneh, and Salmas joining the hunger strike. This group hunger strike, held every Tuesday and known as the 'Black Tuesdays' campaign, saw members protesting against the issuance and execution of death sentences in the prisons of the Islamic Republic. According to the legal advisory group 'Dadban,' this week, several prisoners in the prisons of Urmia, Marivan, Kamyaran, Baneh, and Salmas joined the campaign. The protesters are calling for the complete abolition of the death penalty and the cessation of torture by the authorities of the Islamic Republic in Iranian prisons. The 'Black Tuesdays' campaign, initiated by a group of political prisoners from Qezel Hessar prison, has gained support from civil and political activists in other prisons, and as of last week, prisoners from 11 prisons across the country, including Qezel Hessar, Evin, Karaj Central Prison, Khorramabad, Tabriz, Ardabil, Qaemshahr, Khouy, Naqdeh, Mashhad, and Saqqez had joined the campaign. Currently, with the addition of prisoners from several other prisons, this group hunger strike is taking place in at least 16 prisons. In the past week, the judicial authorities of the Islamic Republic executed several prisoners on various charges, including a prisoner named Daniel Kazemi Nejad in connection with the killing of a Basij member on Monday in Dizelabad prison in Kermanshah. In recent weeks, members of the 'Black Tuesdays' campaign have warned about Ali Khamenei's statements regarding the necessity of not adhering to Western human rights principles, considering these remarks as a precursor and a 'serious alarm' regarding the expansion of human rights violations by the Islamic Republic. The spokesperson for the U.S. State Department previously called on more countries worldwide to protest against the Islamic Republic for suppressing the Iranian people, emphasizing that silence in the face of the oppression of the Iranian people is unacceptable.