Tuesday, April 8, 2025 – A group of families of political prisoners sentenced to death staged a peaceful protest outside Tehran’s Evin Prison, demanding the immediate revocation of death sentences issued against their loved ones.
The protesters carried photographs of several political prisoners, including Shahrokh Daneshvarkar, Vahid Bani Amerian, Abolhassan Montazer, Mehdi Hassani, Mohammad Taghavi, Behrouz Ehsani, Mohammad-Javad Vafaee Sani, and Pouya Ghobadi.
Holding placards and handwritten signs reading “No to Execution” and “Abolish the Death Penalty Now,” the families called attention to the increasing use of capital punishment in Iran. A large banner displaying the slogan “No to Execution” was also prominently featured during the protest.
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.”
The gatherings of families of political prisoners reflect widespread dissent against the harsh repression and heavy sentences imposed on political detainees in Iran.
The clerical regime employs unfair trials and instrumentalizes the death penalty as a tool to eliminate political opposition and instill fear in society.
This protest of families of political prisoners took place in conjunction with the 63rd week of the nationwide “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign, a grassroots movement currently active in 38 prisons across the country. The campaign aims to oppose the systematic use of the death penalty in Iran through weekly hunger strikes and collective action.
63rd Week of the “No to Execution Tuesdays” Campaign
On the same day, hundreds of political prisoners launched another round of hunger strikes, continuing a pattern of weekly protests against mass executions. In a statement marking the 63rd week of the campaign, the prisoners condemned the sharp rise in death sentences and executions following the end of the Nowruz holidays.
They also welcomed the recent resolution adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Council on widespread human rights violations in Iran, as well as the one-year extension of the mandates for both the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran and the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission.
