61 prisoners in the women’s ward of Evin, Zeynab Jalalian in Yazd prison, Toomaj Salehi in Evin, several former prisoners, families of prisoners, and a number of protesting citizens will go on a hunger strike on today “against execution.”
After 61 prisoners in the women’s ward of Evin announced that they would go on a hunger strike on Thursday, January 25 “against execution,” Zeynab Jalalian from Yazd prison, Toomaj Salehi from Evin, several former prisoners, some families of prisoners, and many protesting citizens announced that they would join this hunger strike.
On Tuesday, January 23, Narges Mohammadi’s Instagram account published a statement announcing that “political-ideological female prisoners of Evin, in protest against recent executions and for ‘stopping execution’, will be on a general hunger strike on Thursday, January 25.”
In the early hours of Tuesday, January 23, the Islamic Republic hanged Mohammad Ghobadlou, another protester of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, despite legal flaws in the execution process. Mohammad Ghobadlou, born in 2000, was the 9th young protester whose life was taken by the Islamic Republic’s killing machine for participating in the 2022 protests.
On the same morning, Farhad Salimi, a Sunni Kurdish political prisoner, was also hanged without being allowed to meet his family.
The execution of these two political prisoners, despite opposition and legal flaws in the execution process, created an emotional and charged atmosphere among the opponents of the Islamic Republic.
The execution of these two political prisoners took place while many were demanding “No to Execution” and calling for a halt to the Islamic Republic’s killing machine. Before the execution of the sentences, the political prisoners of Ghezal Hesar had warned in a protest letter “about another human tragedy in this prison” and stated: “We want to stop the oppression and execution machine and prevent the violation of the right to life of these loved ones and other prisoners sentenced to death.”
However, the execution of Ghobadlou and Salimi was not stopped.
Now, once again, a movement against the unjust sentence of execution, which violates the “right to life,” has begun.
After the announcement of the hunger strike by the female prisoners in Evin, the official account of Toomaj Salehi on Twitter announced that this political prisoner will also go on a hunger strike today along with the 61 female prisoners of Evin’s women’s ward.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network, quoting one of Zeynab Jalalian’s relatives, wrote that this Kurdish political prisoner, sentenced to life imprisonment in Yazd prison, has joined the call of Evin prisoners and “in protest against execution” and for “stopping execution” will go on a hunger strike.
Zeynab Jalalian is one of the political prisoners who has spent 15 years without a single day of leave and is being held in Yazd prison in isolated conditions with limited telephone contact. However, according to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, after hearing about the executions in Iran, she announced that she will join the hunger strike on January 25.
Joanna Taimisi, the wife of Mohsen Mazloom, and Maria Mahmoudi, the wife of Mohammad Faramarzi, two Kurdish political prisoners who are both facing execution and fear that their sentences will be carried out at any moment, announced on social networks that they will join this widespread hunger strike.
The government killing of Mohammad Ghobadlou not only failed to silence and discourage a wide range of government opponents but apparently made them more determined to show their firm opposition to the execution sentence.
Even those who fear the execution of their prison sentences or are out on bail or on leave have joined this movement. Among them is Nahid Taghavi, a dual-nationality political prisoner, who is currently on leave and has announced that she will go on a hunger strike.
Simultaneously, several former political prisoners, families of prisoners, and civil activists announced that they would join this protest movement. Among them, Aliyeh Motallebzadeh, former political prisoners, announced her hunger strike and several families of political prisoners, including the families of Mina Fallahi, Mahboubeh Rezaei, Sepideh Qolian, and Saeedeh Shafiei.
Mehdi Yarrahi, a singer who was prosecuted for his protest songs, and many citizens have also shown solidarity with this hunger strike on their social networks.
The right to life for everyone, without any conditions, although it seems like a legitimate and undeniable demand, has today become a protest and revolutionary demand against the Islamic Republic’s government, which has one of the highest rates of state killings in the world.
A few days ago, more than 300 feminist activists, in solidarity with the families of political prisoners threatened by execution at any moment, demanded the unconditional abolition of all death sentences. They called the death sentence unjust under any circumstances and stated, “In demanding the abolition of the death sentence, we make no distinction between prisoners of ‘general crimes’ and ‘political’ prisoners and unanimously say: Never execution, for anyone.”
