Evin Prisoners’ “Call to the People”

The uprising of 2022 marked a turning point in the Iranian people’s struggle for liberation. It has shaken the foundations of the ruling government to such an extent that they have no alternative other than to intensify repression in various forms. The issuing of death sentences and carrying them out, including against political prisoners, has increased exponentially over the past two years. This is a sign of the fear and panic that exists among the political elite of Iran, due to the advances made by society in standing up and demanding its rights.

Now, a collective death sentence has been issued to six political prisoners, Abolhassan Montazer, Pouya Ghobadi, Vahid Bani Amerian, Babak Alipour, Mohammad Taghavi, and Akbar (Shahrokh) Daneshvarkar. And, just recently, a group of youth known as the Ekbatan Boys was also sentenced to death. In addition to these mass execution sentences, other imprisoned political prisoners have been handed death sentences, including Pakhshan Azizi, Varishe Moradi, Shahryar Bayat, Behrouz Ehsani, Mehdi Hasani, and Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

We, a group of political prisoners in Evin prison, are fundamentally opposed to the death penalty, and we support all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience who are facing execution. We believe that the struggle for liberation requires collective solidarity in defense of basic human rights, including by carrying out social resistance to the death penalty. We call on all the people of Iran from all walks of life to protest alongside the political prisoners, in any way possible, against the issuance of such inhumane and reactionary sentences.

Today is the time to form up in the streets against the executions! Today is the time to save the lives of the political prisoners! No to Execution!

The signatories¹ are from Evin’s Men’s Ward Four as well as the Women’s Ward. They include prominent voices of conscience such as Narges Mohammadi, Mohammad Habibi, Golrokh Iraee, Mehran Raouf. Two signers, Ali Younesi and Amirhossein Moradi, are imprisoned students who issued an additional statement to students, spread on social media, that said in part, “It’s time to stop condemning the death penalty and rise up against it.”

Many are prominent activists for trade union, women’s and civil rights and in support of rights for Kurdish and religious minorities. They have supported and promoted the weekly “No to Execution Tuesday” hunger strike, that has spread to 25 prisons and is now in its 46th week.

¹ In alphabetical order: Fatemeh Ziaee Azad, Yedi Bahari, Shiva Esmaeili, Nasrollah Fallahi, Marzieh Farsi, Fouad Fathi, Elaheh Fouladi, Esmaeil Gerami, Farzad Moazami Goudarzi, Mohammad Habibi, Asadollah Hadi, Golrokh Iraee, Azar Kourvandi, Javad Manbari, Mohammad Masoud Moeini, Ali Moezzi, Narges Mohammadi, Reza Akbari Monfared, Amirhossein Moradi, Babak Moradi, Mohammad Najafi, Maryam Banou Nasiri, Tahereh Nouri, Sakineh Parvaneh, Hossein Piri, Khosrow Rahnama, Mehran Raouf, Davood Razavi, Reza Rezaei, Moloud Safaei, Zahra Safaei, Khashayar Sefidi, Maziar Seyednejad, Hossein Shahsavari, Hossein Shanbehzadeh, Forough Taghipour, Maryam Yahyawi, Ali Younesi, Mir Yousef Younesi, Sepehr Ziaei, plus others from the Evin Prison Women’s Ward whose names were not listed for their safety.