On Tuesday, April 22, 2025, families of political prisoners sentenced to death once again staged a protest outside Tehran’s Evin Prison.
This ongoing weekly protest is a response to the widespread issuance of death sentences, the cutting off telephone contact, and restrictions on the access of political prisoners to financial services.
Protesters held photos of their imprisoned loved ones and placards with slogans such as “No to Execution” and “Abolish the Death Penalty,” demanding an end to capital punishment, the restoration of prisoners’ basic rights, and an immediate halt to harassment and punitive measures by prison authorities.
Political prisoners Pouya Ghobadi, Shahrokh Daneshvarkar, Vahid Bani-Amerian, Mohammad Taghavi, and Babak Alipour have faced intensified pressure after refusing to be transferred to Ghezel Hesar Prison. In retaliation, prison authorities have cut off their phone access, blocked their bank cards, and subjected them to threats and potential physical violence by prison guards.
These protests coincide with the “Tuesdays Against Execution” campaign, a collective hunger strike now in its 65th consecutive week, involving political prisoners from 40 prisons across Iran. The campaign was launched to oppose the regime’s growing use of the death penalty as a tool of repression.
In their latest statement, the hunger-striking prisoners condemned the “criminal” execution of Hamid Hossein-Nejad Heydaranlou, and welcomed the joining of Behbahan Prison to the campaign, warning:
This relentless wave of executions reveals a regime terrified of public uprisings and resistance. The silence of the international community in the face of these crimes amounts to complicity. We call on global human rights organizations to take urgent and effective action to stop these inhumane executions.
