Statement from Three Political Prisoners on the Anniversary of the 'Great Deception of 57': This Government Will Fall

Zartosht Ahmadi Raghb, Arsham Rezaei, and Reza Mohammad Hosseini, three imprisoned civil activists, issued a statement on the occasion of the 46th anniversary of Khomeini's return to Iran, calling it the 'Great Deception of 57' and asserting that the Islamic Republic government is 'going to fall.' In the statement, which was sent to the Persian section of Voice of America, the three activists referred to the unfulfilled promises of 'freedom, justice, and progress,' reminding that the Islamic Republic has plunged Iran into a 'black hole of religious dictatorship, repression, poverty, and backwardness.' They also referred to the events of 1357 (1979) in Iran as a 'coup of 57,' adding that the Islamic Republic was founded on 'deceit, violence, repression, and executions,' which continues to this day. The political prisoners further described the 'Decade of Fajr' as a 'Decade of Torment,' stating that it has brought nothing but bloodshed, misery, and oppression to the Iranian people. They highlighted mass executions, the ban on music, the imposition of the velayat-e faqih system on the Iranian people, the exploitation of the Iran-Iraq war to silence dissent, the flight of elites, systemic corruption, rising poverty, support for terrorist groups, and the repression of protesters in the years 77, 88, 98, and 1401, noting that the Islamic Republic has yet to provide any response to the demands of the Iranian people. In conclusion, they emphasized their continued support for the Iranian people and the necessity of achieving freedom and democracy, stating: 'This government will fall. No oppression will last forever. The light of freedom will never be extinguished!' Ten political prisoners imprisoned in Qazalhesar prison in Alborz province announced in Bahman 1402 (January 2024) that they will engage in a group hunger strike every Tuesday in protest against executions, under the title 'Black Tuesdays' or 'Tuesdays Against Executions,' aiming to draw public attention to executions in the Islamic Republic's prisons. According to an exclusive report from the Persian section of Voice of America on Bahman 10, 1402, 'Zartosht Ahmadi Raghb, Jafar Ebrahimi, Ahmadreza Haeri, Loqman Aminpour, Meysam Dehban Zadeh, Saeed Masouri, Reza Mohammad Hosseini, Reza Salmani Zadeh, Hamzeh Savari, and Sepehr Imam Jomeh' were the first prisoners to announce their hunger strike on Tuesdays in protest against the execution process. This campaign later gained support from prisoners in dozens of Islamic Republic prisons and attracted the attention of human rights organizations. Notably, Shirin Ebadi, a lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, described the 'Tuesdays Against Executions' campaign as a result of not succumbing to pressure and repression, as well as an emphasis on unity and collective action. Narges Mohammadi, a political prisoner and member of the Tuesdays Against Executions campaign, who is currently on medical leave, stated in a virtual meeting with the Women's Rights Committee in the French Senate and representatives of the French Parliament: 'The gallows have been erected by executioners in prisons across my homeland, and every day in this land, the heads of young people hang from the nooses.'