sacrificing lives in revenge against movements demanding freedom
From within the walls of Tehran's Evin prison, Nobel Peace laureate Narges Mohammadi and fellow imprisoned women have sent an urgent message to the world: Iran is wielding execution as a political instrument, and the time for intervention is now. Their warning arrives against a backdrop of staggering numbers — 853 executions in 2023 alone, a 48 percent rise from the year before — and more than 42 political prisoners facing imminent death sentences. It is a moment that asks humanity to reckon with the distance between international condemnation and meaningful action.
- Narges Mohammadi, imprisoned yet still speaking, co-signed a statement from Evin prison warning that Iran is systematically using execution as revenge against those who demand freedom.
- Over 42 political prisoners face imminent execution, including Kurdish activists Varishe Moradi and Pakhshan Azizi, accused of armed rebellion — charges the prisoners describe as built on torture and false accusation.
- Iran's execution rate surged 48% in 2023, placing it second in the world, and 345 more death sentences were carried out in just the first months of 2024 — a pace that shows no sign of slowing.
- The executions are widely seen as the regime's calculated response to the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests, which left roughly 500 dead and 22,000 detained, and which the government appears determined to prevent from reigniting.
- The imprisoned women are calling for collective resistance — demanding lawyers, civil society, and activists unite to abolish all pending death sentences before more lives are lost.
On a Saturday, a statement emerged from inside Tehran's Evin prison, posted to social media by the Paris-based family of Narges Mohammadi, the Iranian Nobel Peace laureate currently held there. Written alongside fellow women prisoners, the message carried a clear and urgent charge: Iran's Islamic Republic was using execution as a weapon of political retaliation, and those with the power to intervene must act.
The statement named names and cited numbers. More than 42 political prisoners face imminent execution, among them Kurdish activists Varishe Moradi and Pakhshan Azizi, accused of armed rebellion against the state. The prisoners described a machinery of repression built on torture and fabricated charges — a system designed not to deliver justice but to silence opposition.
The scale of what they described is borne out by data. Iran executed at least 853 people in 2023, a 48 percent increase from 2022, making it the world's second-highest executioner. By early August 2024, another 345 death sentences had already been carried out. Iran publishes no official figures, leaving human rights organizations like Amnesty International to piece together the picture from the outside.
This wave of executions traces its origins to the protests that followed Mahsa Amini's death in police custody in September 2022. Those demonstrations shook the regime, demanding not just reform but the end of the Islamic Republic itself. The government responded with force — approximately 500 killed, 22,000 detained, at least 10 executed in the immediate aftermath. The current surge in capital punishment appears to be the regime's longer strategy: to extinguish dissent before it can gather again.
Mohammadi's voice, reaching the world from behind bars, is one of the few that can speak openly from within the system. Her statement ends not with despair but with a demand — for collective resistance, for the immediate abolition of all death sentences. Whether that call will move those outside the prison walls remains the open and pressing question.
From inside Tehran's Evin prison, a group of women prisoners issued a stark warning on Saturday. Among them was Narges Mohammadi, the Iranian Nobel Peace laureate, whose voice reached the outside world through a statement posted to social media by her family in Paris. The message was direct: Iran's government was weaponizing execution, and the country needed to act.
The women called on Iran's legal experts, civil society leaders, and activists to intervene decisively. They described what they saw as a systematic campaign—the Islamic Republic, they wrote, was sacrificing lives in revenge against movements demanding freedom and equality. The statement condemned what the prisoners characterized as an escalating reliance on capital punishment as a tool of political retaliation.
The urgency was rooted in concrete numbers. More than 42 political prisoners currently face imminent execution threats. Among them are two Kurdish activists, Varishe Moradi and Pakhshan Azizi, both accused of armed rebellion against the state. The women's statement detailed what they called brutal tactics: torture, false accusations, the machinery of state repression grinding forward.
The scale of executions in Iran has grown sharply. In 2023 alone, at least 853 people were executed across the country—a 48 percent jump from the previous year. That figure placed Iran second globally in executions, despite mounting international pressure to limit or abolish the practice. From the start of 2024 through early August, Iranian authorities carried out 345 death sentences, according to the United Nations Human Rights Office.
This surge follows the protests that erupted after Mahsa Amini died in police custody in September 2022. Her death sparked months of demonstrations demanding not just personal freedoms but the end of the Islamic Republic itself. The government's response was severe: roughly 500 people killed, 22,000 detained, and at least 10 executed in the immediate aftermath. The current wave of executions appears to be part of a broader strategy to crush dissent before it can take root again.
The women prisoners emphasized the need for what they called collective resistance. They demanded the immediate abolition of all death sentences, framing it as a matter of saving lives in the face of what they described as government attempts to extinguish opposition. Human rights organizations including Amnesty International have repeatedly documented Iran's excessive use of capital punishment, yet the country continues the practice with little transparency—Iran does not publish official execution data, making independent verification difficult.
Mohammadi's statement, delivered from behind bars, represents one of the few voices from inside the system willing to speak openly about what is happening. The question now is whether the call will move those outside the prison walls to act.
Citações Notáveis
We call on Iran's legal experts, civil society leaders, and activists to respond actively and stop the Islamic Republic from sacrificing lives in its revenge against movements for freedom and equality— Women prisoners of Evin prison, including Nobel Peace laureate Narges Mohammadi
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why is Mohammadi's voice specifically significant here? She's imprisoned—how does that change what she's saying?
Because she's speaking from inside the machinery itself. She's not an outside observer. She's in Evin, one of Iran's most notorious prisons, and she's still willing to name what's happening. That carries weight that a statement from exile wouldn't.
The statement mentions "collective resistance." What does that actually mean in practice?
It's a call to people with power—lawyers, civil society figures, activists—to use whatever leverage they have. It's not a call to violence. It's asking the system to turn against itself, or at least to slow down.
Why the spike now? Why 48 percent more executions in 2023 than 2022?
The Amini protests showed the regime how fragile its control could be. Executions are a message: this is what happens if you push back. It's terror as policy.
Are there any signs this pressure is working?
The statement itself is a sign that people inside are still fighting. Whether it changes anything depends on whether those outside listen and act. That's still an open question.
What happens to the 42 prisoners facing execution right now?
That's the immediate crisis. Without intervention, some will likely be executed. The statement is partly a race against time.