Mass Hunger Strike Spreads at Iran’s Ghezel Hesar Prison Over Execution Surge

More than 1,000 prisoners held on death row at Iran’s Ghezel Hesar Prison near Karaj have pushed their mass hunger strike into its third week, mounting a desperate resistance against a sweeping surge in state executions.

The protest in Unit 2 began on July 13, triggered by the placement of six inmates into solitary confinement—a standard precursor to hanging under the Iranian penal system. Rights monitors, including the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), noted that the majority of those targeted in this batch were convicted on drug-related charges.

Inmates have resorted to extreme measures to demand an immediate halt to capital punishment. Video footage verified by international news outlets shows prisoners sewing their lips shut with needle and thread, while crowds inside the facility chant slogans against state executions.

According to statements from the National Council of Resistance of Iranref=”https://nile1.com/en/2026/07/28/rising-u-s-iran-tensions-heighten-risk-for-foreign-detainees-warns-freed-conservationist/” class=”auto-internal-link” title=”Rising U.S.-Iran Tensions Heighten Risk for Foreign Detainees, Warns Freed Conservationist”>Iran (NCRI), the health of participating prisoners is deteriorating rapidly. Judicial administrators and prison wardens have refused to engage with the striking inmates or provide necessary medical intervention despite growing physical distress.

Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)—to which Iran is a state party—the death penalty is restricted exclusively to the “most serious crimes,” generally defined as intentional homicide. However, judicial authorities in Tehran frequently impose capital punishment for narcotics offenses and non-violent crimes, drawing sharp rebukes from United Nations human rights experts.

The expansion of capital punishment comes during the administration of President Masoud Pezeshkian. Statistics compiled by Amnesty International reveal that Iranian authorities executed at least 2,159 people in 2025. That spike contributed to a global total of 2,707 recorded executions across 17 nations—the highest level documented by the organization since 1981, excluding China, where execution data remains a classified state secret.

Monitoring by the Center for Human Rights in Iran indicates that broader state repression has intensified alongside the judicial killings, citing nearly 50 executions and roughly 6,000 arbitrary detentions within a recent three-month window.

Ghezel Hesar has repeatedly served as an epicenter for organized prisoner resistance. In October 2025, over 1,500 inmates staged a six-day hunger strike, which dispersed only after high-ranking judicial officials visited the facility and promised case reviews and temporary stays of execution. Rights advocates report that those administrative commitments were never fulfilled.

In 2024, the United States Department of State placed Ghezel Hesar Prison under financial and diplomatic sanctions for gross human rights violations, citing repeated instances of brutal beatings inflicted by security personnel against political prisoners engaging in peaceful hunger strikes.