Zartosht Ahmadi Raghab's Hunger Strike in Protest Against Executions, Inflation, and Injustice

Zartosht Ahmadi Raghab, a political prisoner, announced on Friday, February 1, that he will go on a hunger strike until February 20. In an audio file sent to the Persian section of Voice of America, he referred to the period from February 1 to 11, which the Islamic Republic calls 'Dawn of Victory,' as 'the decade of suffering,' citing his opposition to executions, inflation, discrimination, and injustices in Iran under the Islamic Republic's rule over the past 46 years as reasons for his hunger strike. This political prisoner stated that the rulers of the Islamic Republic are 'the greatest violators of human rights in the world' and do not represent the people of Iran. The start of Zartosht Ahmadi Raghab's hunger strike coincides with a statement he issued with Arasham Rezaei and Reza Mohammad Hosseini, ten other imprisoned civil activists, marking the 46th anniversary of Khomeini's return to Iran, which they called 'the great deception of 57,' asserting that the Islamic Republic is 'going to fall.' In their statement, which was also sent to the Persian section of Voice of America, Ahmadi Raghab, Rezaei, and Mohammad Hosseini recalled the unfulfilled promises of 'freedom, justice, and progress,' reminding that the Islamic Republic has plunged Iran into 'the black hole of religious dictatorship, repression, poverty, and backwardness.' They also referred to the events of 1979 as a 'coup' and added that the Islamic Republic was founded on deception, violence, repression, and executions and continues to do so. These three political prisoners also referred to the 'Dawn of Victory' as the 'decade of suffering,' stating that it has brought 'nothing but bloodshed, misery, and oppression' to the people of Iran. In their statement, Ahmadi Raghab, Rezaei, and Mohammad Hosseini highlighted mass executions, the ban on music, the imposition of the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist on the people of Iran, the exploitation of the Iran-Iraq war to silence dissent, the brain drain, systematic corruption, increasing poverty, support for terrorist groups, and the repression of protesters in the years 1999, 2009, 2019, and 2022, adding that the Islamic Republic has yet to provide any response to the demands of the Iranian people. They concluded their statement by emphasizing their continued support for the Iranian people and the necessity of achieving freedom and democracy and ending the cycle of violence and executions, stating: 'This government is going to fall. No oppression will last forever. The light of freedom will never be extinguished!' Ten political prisoners held in Qazalhesar prison in Alborz province announced in February 2023 that starting every Tuesday, they would go on a hunger strike under the title 'Black Tuesdays' or 'Tuesdays No to Executions' to draw public attention to executions in the prisons of the Islamic Republic in Iran. According to a report from the Persian section of Voice of America on February 1, 2023, 'Zartosht Ahmadi Raghab, Jafar Ebrahimi, Ahmadreza Haeri, Loqman Aminpour, Meysam Dehbanzadeh, Saeed Masouri, Reza Mohammad Hosseini, Reza Salmanzadeh, Hamzeh Savari, and Sepehr Imam Jom'e' were the first prisoners to announce that they would go on hunger strike every Tuesday in protest against the execution process. This campaign later received support from prisoners in dozens of prisons of the Islamic Republic and attracted the attention of human rights organizations. Among them, Shirin Ebadi, a lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize winner, described the 'Tuesdays No to Executions' campaign as 'the result of not surrendering to pressure and repression' and also 'emphasizing unity and collective action.' Narges Mohammadi, a political prisoner and member of the Tuesdays No to 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 on Thursday, February 1, 'The gallows have been erected by executioners in prisons across my homeland, and every day, the heads of young people hang from the gallows in this land.'