International support for the “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign across Iranian prisons continues to swell. Two UN experts, alongside a former UN Special Rapporteur, have joined the campaign’s weekly hunger strike in solidarity with political prisoners protesting the death penalty in Iran. The move highlights growing global recognition of prisoners’ resistance against capital punishment and amplifies their voices on the international stage.
On Tuesday, October 27, 2026, marking the 144th week of the campaign, David R. Boyd, former UN Special Rapporteur, and Andrea Bolaños Vargas, UN Special Rapporteur about human rights defenders, announced they were joining the hunger strike in solidarity with political prisoners in Iran.
Additionally, Ana Lorena Delgadillo, a member of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, announced that she will join the action next week.
These declarations of support come as the “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign, launched in February 2024 at Ghezel Hesar Prison, completes 144 consecutive weeks and expands to 66 prisons throughout Iran.
UN Experts Back Anti-Execution Movement
The participation of human rights officials and UN experts in this movement reflects deepening international concern over the surge in executions across Iran. The solidarity action carries immense weight: the voices of protesting prisoners, who have fought for nearly three years under harsh conditions to defend the right to life, are now echoing far beyond Iran’s borders.
Having become the longest-running and most widespread protest movement inside Iran’s prison system, the “No to Executions Tuesdays” campaign underscores mounting public opposition to capital punishment and the clerical regime’s reliance on executions as a tool to instill fear and silence dissent.
Female Political Prisoners at the Forefront
Female political prisoners remain at the forefront of this struggle, consistently joining the weekly “No to Executions Tuesdays” hunger strikes for nearly three years. These prisoners are currently serving their sentences in women’s wards across the country, including Evin Prison, Qarchak Prison in Varamin, Sepidar Prison in Ahvaz, Adelabad Prison in Shiraz, and facilities in Zahedan, Yazd, Lakan Prison in Rasht, and Bandar Abbas.
Source: wncri.org
