Support from Dozens of Human Rights Organizations for the 'No to Execution Tuesdays' Campaign in Iran

68 international and Iranian human rights organizations signed a joint statement expressing solidarity with the 'No to Execution Tuesdays' protest movement in Iranian prisons and called for international community support for this movement. Iran Human Rights Organization, as one of the signatories, urged human rights activists to pay attention to the necessity of supporting this 'initiative' of Iranian political prisoners who have united against the death penalty despite their diverse ideologies. Mahmoud Amiri-Moghaddam, the director of this organization, stated that 'the resilience and steadfastness of Iranian prisoners who have been on hunger strike for 31 weeks against the death penalty have influenced the global movement against capital punishment and inspired their struggle. Our message to these brave individuals is that we have heard your voice and will stand by you until this inhumane punishment is abolished.' Jafar Ebrahimi, Zartosht Ahmadi-Ragheb, Sepehr Imam Jomeh, Luqman Aminpour, Ahmadreza Haeri, Meysam Dehbanzadeh, Reza Salmandzadeh, Hamzeh Savari, Saeed Masouri, and Reza Mohammad Hosseini, ten prisoners from Qezel Hesar prison, began a campaign against the death penalty titled 'Black Tuesdays No to Execution' in protest against the wave of weekly executions in that prison since last February. These political-ideological prisoners, inspired by the hunger strike of death row inmates, have been symbolically going on hunger strike every Tuesday against the death penalty since then. The Iranian judiciary executed 'the first public execution since the beginning of 2024.' This collective movement, which is currently marking its thirty-first protest Tuesday, has now reached 17 other prisons across the country. Among the organizations that signed this statement, in addition to the Iran Human Rights Organization, are others such as the Defenders of Human Rights Center led by Shirin Ebadi, the American PEN Association, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, the World Organization Against Torture, the International Federation for Human Rights, the Human Rights Institute of the International Bar Association, the Baloch Activists Campaign, the Six Zang Network, Article 19, and dozens of other human rights organizations. According to statistics from the Iran Human Rights Organization, at least 395 people have been executed in Iran since the beginning of this calendar year. The Iran Human Rights Organization reported that in the first 20 days of August this year, on average, one person was executed in Iranian prisons every six hours. The report states that since 2021, the number of executions has increased each year; to the extent that in 2023, at least 834 individuals were hanged. In Iran, drug-related executions still account for the highest number. However, according to the Iran Human Rights Organization, 'marginalized groups and ethnic minorities, especially Kurds and Baluchis, constitute a high percentage of those executed relative to their population.' The Islamic Republic of Iran uses the death penalty as a tool for political repression, and death sentences are issued in courts that do not adhere to the minimum standards of due process and judicial proceedings.