But the dawn of Tuesday, July 28, in Alikhani Square in Iran’s central town of Isfahan, an intense moment unfolded as official state lynchers faced off with the people’s valiant resistance. The night before, people on social media shared images of gallows scaffolding being erected in the square that was one of the scenes of a powerful countrywide uprising in January 2026. Family members of some protesters sentenced to death from that rebellion posted that they were spending the night at the square to protest the upcoming execution. Videos show hundreds of people joined them, chanting anti-regime slogans in the face of police crackdown and rabid supporters of the fascist regime who came to cheer the bloodlust spectacle of a public execution.
There were reports of some protesters surging toward the barricades in an attempt to stop the execution. Police snipers fired paintballs and targeted people with green lasers while loud boos were heard from the crowd against the executioners and their fans. Dozens of motorcycle police cleared the square, and teargas was deployed, while the sound of gunfire could be heard on video. [1]
This happened as the 16-day hunger strike of 1,500 death row prisoners in Ghezel Hesar prison ended on the same day, which may have helped inspire this street protest, as well as the impact of the sustained “No To Execution Tuesdays” brave prisoners’ hunger strike, now in 60 prisons across Iran in its 134th week as of August 18 (over 2 ½ years). There are reports of growing (though not yet massive) protests, from broad strata of Iranian civil society, against the IRI executions surge, the U.S. war on Iran, and to free political prisoners. Notably this week, a joint statement against executions was published by a coalition of students from seven Iranian universities.
This daring crowd went into the streets en masse to oppose the execution of protesters convicted of an uprising on that very spot, an uprising which was drowned in the blood of thousands of protesters and others over January 8-10, 2026. And they did this under the terrifying cloud of the U.S. and Israeli aggression against Iran and Iran’s convictions of protesters as “U.S. or Israeli spies”. This mass defiance also took place amid the regime’s terrifying campaign of executions that (according to @burnthecage August 15) has so far this year executed at least 915 people, which is four a day or one every 6 hours, the actual number likely higher due to state secrecy.
The kind of in-your-face valor shown by renewed street protest such as this one, as well as public statements of prominent voices of conscience in Iran, are badly needed in today’s world, including inside the U.S., and should emulated and spread!
Group Trials, Threats to Artists: Islamic Republic Repression Continues to Escalate under War Conditions
Imprisoned prominent artist and rights activist Mehdi Mahmoudian[2] reported in early August via his Telegram channel that nearly 100 prominent Iranians, including artists and filmmakers, were summoned by the authorities after speaking out against a new wave of executions under the hashtag “No to executions”, particularly the public hanging of protesters in Isfahan. More than 20 of those summoned were reportedly well-known film and television actors.
A dangerous and unprecedented escalation by the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) is the use of group trials, as the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) reported in detail in Iran’s New Weapon: Group Prosecutions of Protesters Send Dozens Toward the Gallows, on August 12.
…dozens of defendants have now been prosecuted collectively rather than individually, denied meaningful access to independent legal counsel and case files, and subjected to torture and coercion to obtain forced “confessions.” Courts have refused to examine evidence favorable to defendants while relying on disputed testimony and other evidence obtained under coercive circumstances. The result is a system designed to produce convictions and executions.
For example, in the Alikhani Square case which involved at least 59 defendants, the entire judicial process consisted of only three one-hour hearings. At least 23 were sentenced to 5-10 years in prison, and at least 12 —all of them in their twenties—were sentenced to death, several receiving multiple death sentences. The CHRI report continues:
Just since March 19, 2026, Iranian authorities have executed more than 47 individuals on politically motivated charges, including at least 26 protesters arrested during January protests. The use of the death penalty to suppress dissent has not been seen on this scale in Iran since the regime’s massacre of prisoners in the 1980s.
Harmful Delusions that U.S. & Affiliates Can Act against Iran’s Repression
As the executions have surged, fascist Iranian diaspora groups and social media posts have specifically called on the U.S. and Israel to “finish the job” of destroying Iran’s infrastructure to force regime change, and have virulently criticized negotiations with the “terrorist” Iranian regime. Others, including many well-meaning individuals, have focused efforts on pleading with duplicitous institutions like the United Nations, in which the U.S., as one of its criminal regimes on the Security Council, has repeatedly refused to condemn Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Ordinary people and progressive forces all over the world should stand with the brave dissidents and political prisoners in Iran and amplify their voices. But no, they should not allow themselves to be tools of the US war crimes against Iran by calling for US action or applauding its propaganda against the IRI, at the same time as Trump et al. are kidnapping and killing immigrants and sentencing anti-ICE protesters to hundreds of years in prison (combined) in mass trials (e.g., Prairieland, Texas defendants) on bogus charges of “conspiracy” and “terrorism”!
Some Key Points from Zoom Dialogue with IEC Organizers
On August 15, there was a lively and informative discussion over Zoom of a dozen attendees with IEC organizers on its last two updates (7/14 and 7/27) related to questions of epistemology (theory of knowledge/truth) related to the campaign. It was a surprise to one participant, an academic from the Iranian Diaspora, that there are U.S. peace activists who, while rightfully oppose the horrific genocide of Palestinians, refuse to support Iran’s political prisoners due to supposed IRI’s support of the Palestinians. One activist reported on the cultural relativism/identity politics of woke “leftists” he encounters who simply refuse to believe the reality that the IRI has and is viciously repressing, including executing, its own people. Even IF the IRI genuinely supported Palestinian liberation, it would be immoral to rally behind the regime’s massacres of Iranian protesters. But there is ample evidence, if one used a scientific method to examine objective reality, of factually how the IRI is acting in its own state interests and regional ambitions, in its role of leader of the so-called “Axis of Resistance”. And, we might ask just what kind of supposed “anti-imperialist” force works directly with U.S. ICE to identify and deport Iranians, as was recently exposed? [3]
There was initial but vigorous discussion about how the woke “left” has unity with MAGA in using an unscientific method of selective/alternative facts and therefore ends up being delusional in its simplistic and errant method of dealing with the complex global reality in their insisting “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” This acts as if in two opposing forces, one must be liberatory. It is fantasy and deadly logic for the people’s side to engage in deception and self-deception instead of searching for the lofty and hard roads to real liberation. We touched on the importance of challenging not only WHAT people think about Iran and the right for its political prisoners, but HOW people think as to the reality of the nature of Iran’s regime and WHY it is repressive and a reactionary capitalist theocracy.
The discussion concluded with some activists volunteering to draft a statement to circulate among liberal churches and social justice movements to stand against IRI’s executions and with Iran’s political dissidents/prisoners as part of proceeding from the interest of humanity. Stay tuned to the IEC for developments on this tentative initiative. Please email us at FreeIransPoliticalPrisonersNow@gmail.com any questions, suggestions and comments, or on your role in helping to realize this.
And please donate to the ongoing efforts by sending checks or money orders to: International Emergency Campaign, 18601 N. Hwy 1 #212, Fort Bragg, CA 96437.
Last but Not Least
As we have repeatedly said and will again to call on all to join in raising up the fight for justice: