22 Prisoners Executed en Masse in Qezelhessar Prison as Pezeshkian’s Cabinet Unveiling Looms

Mrs. Rajavi Urges UN and EU to Take Immediate Action to Save Death Row Inmates

Amid domestic and regional turmoil, and fearing a popular uprising, Ali Khamenei has turned to mass executions of prisoners just as his new president, Massoud Pezeshkian, prepares to unveil his cabinet. Pezeshkian has repeatedly stated that this cabinet, which could be dubbed the “Execution Cabinet,” will only be introduced after Khamenei’s approval.
In an act of brutality unseen even by this regime’s standards since 2016, Khamenei’s executioners hanged 22 prisoners in a single day at Qezelhessar Prison in Karaj on Wednesday, August 7. Seven of the victims were Sunni compatriots.
The day before, on August 6, four more prisoners were executed: Aminollah Naroui (42), Hamzeh Garavand (28), and Azad Abdollahi (45) in Bandar Abbas prison, and Akbar Gohari (40) in Sabzevar prison. On August 3, in addition to the four prisoners named in an earlier statement, three others – Naghi Ghorbani (40), Reza (Hamid) Rostami (32), and Javad Amiri (35) – were hanged in Shiraz’s Adel Abad prison. These executions appear to be Khamenei’s, the judiciary’s, the Revolutionary Guards’, and the president’s brutal retaliation against Iranian people calling for an end to the religious dictatorship.
On Tuesday, August 6, coinciding with the prisoners’ hunger strike on the 28th Tuesday of the “No to Execution” campaign, female political prisoners in Evin Prison’s women’s ward protested the execution of Reza Rasaei in Kermanshah. Their chants of “Death to the dictator” and “Death to the execution government” were met with violence from prison guards, resulting in several injuries requiring medical attention.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), expressed her condolences to the victims’ families. She stated that the regime’s foundation is built on torture, execution, and genocide, with 45 years of unceasing bloodshed. While the regime hopes these brutal tactics will quell public anger and prevent uprisings, they will only strengthen the people’s resolve to overthrow the regime.
Mrs. Rajavi called for immediate action from the UN and EU to save death row prisoners and refer Iran’s human rights violations to the Security Council. She emphasized that inaction in the face of such atrocities not only violates universal human rights but also emboldens the regime to escalate its crimes, warmongering, and terrorism.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
7 August 2024