One thousand five hundred men who are on death row in Ward 2 of Iran’s Ghezel Hesar prison went on hunger strike on Monday July 13 to demand an end to executions. Most of the executions are for the vague “drug related” charge.
The immediate spark to this prison rebellion was the transfer of six of their fellow inmates to solitary confinement which precedes executions. This is the largest state prison in Iran located in Karaj, less than an hour west of the capital city of Tehran, with reportedly over 20,000 prisoners as of 2011. It is the site where the “No to Execution Tuesdays” weekly hunger strike was launched, now into its 129th continuous week in 58 prisons across Iran.
Even as some prisoners were collapsing from medical conditions, the striking prisoners vowed to continue in their heroic unified protest, lining the hallways shoulder to shoulder holding hand written signs and chanting “stop executions” (video). On Sunday July 19, family members of the prisoners protested outside the prison gates in solidarity. There are reports, including by Baluchistan Human Rights Group, of an attack by the regime’s thugs brutalizing and dispersing the solidarity protest.
Is this the sound before the fury of those who are oppressed, threatened with death by U.S. bombings and Islamic Republic nooses, demanding to live on their feet instead of dying on their knees? Mustn’t we stand with and learn from their courage, dignity and humanity?