On Tuesday, March 18, 2025, on the eve of the Persian New Year, families of political prisoners sentenced to death, along with labor and civil activists, held simultaneous protests in two locations: outside the Lakan Prison in Rasht and in the city of Sonqor, in Kermanshah Province, western Iran.
These demonstrations coincided with the 60th week of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign and aimed to oppose the imminent execution of several political prisoners.
In Rasht, protesters gathered outside Lakan Prison, setting up a Haft-Sin table—a traditional symbol of the Persian New Year—and holding up photos of Sharifeh Mohammadi and Manouchehr Fallah, two political prisoners facing execution. They also carried images of other death row political prisoners, including Abbas Deris, Vahid Bani Amerian, Babak Alipour, Behrouz Ehsani, Mohammad Taghavi, Abolhassan Montazer, Pouya Ghobadi, Shahrokh Daneshvarkar, Pakhshan Azizi, and Varisha Moradi, demanding an immediate halt to their death sentences.
At the same time, in Sonqor, families of political prisoners also joined the campaign by gathering at Sarab Park. The relatives of Vahid Bani Amerian and Pouya Ghobadi, both sentenced to death, held up their photos alongside placards with the slogan “No to Execution,” calling for the revocation of these sentences.
These protests took place amid growing concerns over the Iranian judiciary’s harsh crackdown on political dissent. In December 2024, Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced six political prisoners—including Vahid Bani Amerian, Pouya Ghobadi, Shahrokh Daneshvarkar, Abolhassan Montazer, Babak Alipour, and Mohammad Taghavi—to execution, imprisonment, and exile.
On January 23, 2025, Amnesty International warned that these prisoners were at imminent risk of execution after being convicted on charges of “rebellion through membership in opposition groups.”
Human rights activists have repeatedly condemned the Iranian regime’s judiciary’s use of the death penalty as a tool of political repression. These protests serve as yet another demonstration of the widespread opposition to the government’s ongoing campaign of executions against political prisoners in Iran.
