Jailed HRD Ahmadreza Haeri Facing New Trumped-up Charges for Abolitionist Activism
Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 20 May 2026: Ahmadreza Haeri, a civil rights defender and one of the founding members of the “No Death Penalty Tuesdays” movement serving his fourth year behind bars, has been tried for trumped-up charges for his abolitionist activism.
The “No Death Penalty Tuesdays” movement was started by political and non-political prisoners in Ghezelhesar Prison in January 2024. The weekly hunger strikes for the abolition of the death penalty has since spread to 56 prisons across Iran.
Condemning all forms of judicial harassment and prosecution targeted at abolitionist activists, IHRNGO reiterates its calls for the international community to pay greater attention to the escalating crackdown on human rights defenders in Iran.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of IHRNGO, stated: "Ahmadreza Haeri was previously sentenced to prison for his human rights work, yet despite facing relentless pressure and hardship behind bars, he continues to advocate for human rights as a pioneer of the ‘No Death Penalty Tuesdays’ movement. This movement represents a peaceful, resilient, and effective stand against the execution machine, which functions as the state’s primary instrument of repression.”
He added: "Human rights organisations and all nations that maintain diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic have a duty to defend the rights of Ahmadreza Haeri and other human rights defenders."
According to information obtained by IHRNGO, Ahmadreza Haeri, a human rights defender detained in Ghezelhesar Prison, was tried via videoconference on 19 May, the 121st week of the "No Death Penalty Tuesdays" movement.
During the proceedings before Branch One of the Karaj Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office, he was charged with "propaganda against the system” for publishing accounts of executions, campaigning against the death penalty and highlighting violations of defendants' fair trial rights.
Ahmadreza was sentenced by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court to three years and eight months imprisonment for “assembly and collusion against national security” and eight months for “propaganda against the system” for exposing human rights violations behind bars. He began serving his sentence in Evin Prison on 10 May 2023.
In November 2024, Ahmadreza reported that his prison sentence, which the Revolutionary Court and the Security Prosecutor’s Office had unlawfully concealed for a year, had been increased to six years and three months.
Throughout his imprisonment, he has faced multiple trials in absentia, with consecutive sentences repeatedly tacked onto his term as retaliation for exposing torture and deaths in custody. On one occasion, he was summoned for interrogation at the Karaj Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office simply for protesting against the execution of Babak Shahbazi, a cellmate accused of espionage.
Most recently, on the night of 29 March 2026, political prisoners in Unit 4 of Ghezel Hesar Prison protested against the transfer of six political prisoners (Babak Alipour, Pouya Ghobadi, Mohammad Taghavi Sangdehi, Akbar Daneshvarkar, Abolhassan Montazer and Vahid Baniamerian) to the gallows. In response, prison guards violently assaulted Ahmadreza and other political prisoners before transferring them to solitary confinement as punishment. They were held incommunicado before being returned to the general ward.
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