The execution statistics do not even include Mohammad Mirmousavi, who was beaten to death while in police custody with hands and feet tied. Although death under police torture is all too common, in this case there were graphic videos and photos of the severely battered and bruised body of this 36-year-old from the Gilak minority which circulated on social media.2 There has been little mainstream U.S. news of the executions in Iran or of Mirmousavi’s murder. This murder of Mirmousavi occurred almost two years after the mid-September 2022 police custody death of Mahsa Jina Amini—which provoked the ferocious “Woman, Life, Freedom” (WLF) uprising that lasted many months into 2023.

Reza Razaei, a Kurdish protester from the WLF uprising, was executed in August. Nearly half the executions have been for alleged, vague “drug related” charges, which is against international law; these (as in the U.S. “war on drugs”) mainly affect impoverished and minority groupings such as the Kurdish and Baluchi oppressed nationalities. For example, Baluchi people are 5% of Iran’s population but are 29% of Iran’s drug-related executions in 2023. And of two women political prisoners recently sentenced to death, Pakhshan Azizi and Sharifeh Mohammadi, both are accused of membership in Kurdish parties.

They Are Not Numb-Ers

As of September 3, the on-going “No Execution Tuesdays” prisoner-led weekly hunger strikes campaign has entered its 32nd consecutive week. These prison protests have spread to 21 prisons all over Iran that include Evin, Great Tehran Prison and Ghezel Hesar. Ghezel Hesar is Iran’s largest prison where thousands of prisoners have been sentenced to death and where the hunger strikes began. Evin Prison, first built in 1971 by the U.S. puppet Shah Pahlavi of Iran, has been the main center of horrific torture and imprisonment of political prisoners ever since—under BOTH regimes. In 1988, Evin was one of the sites of the Islamic Republic’s massacre of over 5,000 political prisoners in a two-month span (August and September) that culminated a decade of murders of a whole generation of radicalized intellectuals and youth among whom were revolutionaries and genuine communists. This is well documented by author Nasser Mohajer in a talk at Revolution Books Berkeley, July 2023.

Iran’s political prisoners, especially the brave women in the notorious Evin prison, refuse to be just so many prison numbers themselves—and more importantly, they refuse to be NUMB-ers, as in people who are numb, silent to suffering and struggle of others in the shadow of soul shattering atrocities like U.S./Israeli genocide in Gaza. Instead, they continue to stand up against a repressive and oppressive theocratic nightmare.

The genuine care and concern of these women for others stands out in the culture today, in or outside prison. It is a noticeable sense of sharing weal and woe in the trenches that expresses a “largeness of mind and generosity of spirit.” This stands in contrast to the petty, mean-spirited cancel culture where tearing others down to build oneself up to gain personal or political capital is all too prevalent in society’s hellhole prisons reflecting the larger society overall today. This can be seen in the many letters of appreciation of other prisoners—such as one written by Nobel Peace laureate Narges Mohammadi concerned over Nahid Taghavi’s health. A recent moving letter by Maryam Yahyavi speaks of this different culture and her appreciation of death row prisoner Pakhshan Azizi, titled “We Live the Struggle with a New Way of Life,” that ends with this: “Even in prison, Pakhshan does whatever she can for anyone, regardless of their political and ideological orientation. The government fears such individuals.”³

There are too many examples of this precious new shoot of a different future for us to detail, but we urge readers to follow the Facebook or Instagram accounts of Burn the Cage to keep abreast of Iran’s political prisoners’ struggles and activities. And we are determined to stand with them in the spirit of fighting for justice, for something bigger than ourselves and the fight to survive, but for a liberating world. As we wrote in May 2023 which is even more applicable today:

In recent weeks, several collective efforts by Iran’s political prisoners have emerged to protest the current “hanging spree” by the Islamic Republic of Iran, with many more executions looming. The fact that this resistance is taking place behind the walls and under the very eyes of the “Republic of Executioners” highlights the urgency to make the struggle to free the political prisoners an international demand. Their inspiring courage and camaraderie under dire conditions should be spread and emulated.

In late August, a prominent but diverse grouping of 68 human rights, anti-death penalty and left-progressive forces worldwide signed a joint letter “In Support and Solidarity with “No Death Penalty Tuesday” Abolitionist Movement in Iranian Prisons.”

Nodal Points of Defiance Past and Present

As noted, two sides are currently locked in struggle in Iran and seem to be on a collision course—the Islamic fascist theocratic regime and the masses of Iranian people, especially the political prisoners who have stepped to the frontlines. In July and August, the women of Evin held two all-night sit-ins against executions, one brutally attacked by guards. On social media, Evin women’s ward prisoner Golrokh Iraee reported on a special August commemoration of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners, saying in part that the women were speaking bitterness about “... the stories of those activists whose revolution, following the overthrow of the Pahlavi dictatorship, was co-opted by the newly established Islamist regime… Many of these individuals were tortured, executed by firing squad, or hanged in the prisons.”

In another #OTD-type ["On This Date"] post, she details the similarity of a massacre on September 8, 1978 by the Shah, and the execution of protesters on September 8, 2018 by Iran’s current mullah regime and concludes:

Eradicating oppression is only possible by completely overthrowing the system, with a revolution that topples the power structure and prevents any new version of such leadership at the top of the pyramid. Whether it be “His Majesty”, the “Supreme Leader”, the “Shah”, or a ruler, they are not just individuals, but symbols of the dominance of an ideology of servitude and subjugation in society, that prolong oppression and exploitation. In memory of the martyrs of September 8, 1978, and 2018, who could not bear oppression and were not afraid of the rain of bullets and the noose of execution.

While we struggle ever harder to free Iran’s political prisoners such as these women in Evin and all the brave prison hunger strikers, we know there are no guarantees. However, we do see glimpses of a better world in those who are heroically sacrificing and staying true to principles of fighting a vile regime in close quarters with the regime but not becoming like them. Their determination to maintain their own humanity must not be lost but needs to be amplified. And that should give hope to everyone who honestly confronts the huge challenges in Iran and in the world today. This must include an urgency of support and solidarity to stop the executions and freeing the political prisoners. Heroic voices must not be silenced!

Footnotes

[1] Because the Iranian regime does not provide information about most executions, the numbers are carefully documented by human rights organizations from news reports and local contacts, but vary slightly. Execution numbers for August are between 92 and 100. One of these is “Human Rights Situation in Iran, August 2024,” HRANA.

[2] “Another Death in Custody: Mohammad Mirmousavi,” iranwire.com, August 30, 2024. There is an “investigation,” the 5 cops are “detained,” and the police chief was fired. Over a week later, Iranian police command said that Mirmousavi died because of “lack of control of anger and emotions” of the FIVE cops who sadistically beat ONE unarmed man to death!

[3] “We live the struggle with a new way of life,” Letter from Maryam Yahyavi in Evin Prison, FreeIransPoliticalPrisonersNow.org, September 2, 2024.