IRAN-URGENT
Iranian Prisoners Face Death by Execution or Hunger Strike
as the World Remains Silent
Prisoners across Iran are confronting a horrifying reality: they face execution by the regime in Iran or death through hunger strike in a desperate attempt to stop the executions.
With every passing day, the danger facing prisoners grows. Hunger-striking inmates are becoming increasingly weak, while many live under the constant threat of being taken from their cells and executed without warning. For them, every hour could be their last.
The Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI) urgently calls on the United Nations, the European Union, Western governments, and the international community to act immediately to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe inside Iran’s prisons.
CFPPI warns that, as global attention focuses on wider regional conflicts, the regime in Iran have intensified executions as a tool of political repression.
Prisoners Are Fighting for Their Lives
Since 13 July 2026, prisoners in Unit 2 of Ghezel Hesar Prison have been on hunger strike after witnessing fellow inmates repeatedly taken from their cells to be executed. Every removal left those remaining believing they could be next.
These prisoners are no longer simply protesting—they are fighting for their lives.
With each passing day without food, their physical condition deteriorates while the threat of execution remains constant. They now face the real possibility of dying either at the hands of the state or as a result of their hunger strike.
In an act of unimaginable desperation, several prisoners have reportedly sewn their lips shut, symbolising that they believe they have exhausted every other means of making the world hear them.
Their message is simple:
- “Iranian young people do not deserve prison and execution.”
- “No to Execution.”
A video recorded inside the prison on 19 July 2026, English-subtitled by CFPPI, is available here: https://youtube.com/shorts/3Phy9rlIo74
Families Plead for Justice
Outside the Parliament in Tehran, families of imprisoned protesters have gathered to plead for the lives of their loved ones, calling on the authorities to halt the executions before more families lose their sons and daughters.
According to CFPPI, prison officials have ignored the prisoners’ demands while their health continues to deteriorate.
Hunger Strikes Spread Across Iran
CFPPI reports that the hunger strike has spread beyond Ghezel Hesar Prison, reflecting a growing wave of resistance among prisoners facing the threat of execution.
In Dastgerd Prison, Isfahan, political prisoners arrested during the January 2026 protests have reportedly launched a hunger strike after 14 fellow protesters, also detained during those protests, were transferred to solitary confinement while under sentence of death. According to CFPPI, the transfers have heightened fears that executions could be carried out imminently.
This growing wave of hunger strikes reflects the extraordinary courage and defiance of prisoners who believe execution could come at any moment.
Executions Continue Behind a Wall of Secrecy
CFPPI warns that only a small number of executions are publicly announced. According to CFPPI, many detainees arrested during the January 2026 protests have been executed in secret, while their families are threatened into silence.
Since the start of the war in Iran, human rights organisations report that more than 50 political prisoners, mostly January 2026 detainees, have been executed. On 19 July 2026, Erfan Esfandiari and Gol Mohammad Mohammadi were executed in Isfahan.
CFPPI warns that many more political prisoners remain at imminent risk of execution. The latest list of prisoners facing execution, updated weekly by CFPPI, is available below:
How Many More Must Die Before the World Responds?
CFPPI asks why the international community has failed to mount an urgent response despite repeated warnings about Iran’s escalating execution campaign.
Where are the emergency meetings? Where are the coordinated diplomatic measures? Where is the sustained international pressure needed to save lives?
Every day without meaningful international action increases the danger facing prisoners whose lives now hang in the balance.
Silence carries consequences. Without decisive international pressure, more prisoners may be executed, while others risk dying as their hunger strikes continue.
CFPPI Calls for Immediate International Action
CFPPI urgently calls on the international community to act immediately by publicly demanding an immediate halt to executions, increasing diplomatic pressure on the regime in Iran, raising the cases of prisoners at risk in every available international forum, and holding those responsible for serious human rights violations accountable
Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI)
🌐 www.cfppi.org
For Media Inquiries:
Shiva Mahbobi, Spokeswoman
📧 shiva.mahbobi@gmail.com 📞 +44 7572 356666
See our latest reports on the situation of prisons in Iran:
We invite concerned individuals to please use the form on our website to send a letter to your government:
https://cfppi.org/urgent-action-required-write-to-officials-about-crimes-against-humanity-in-iran/