Day Six of Sit-in Strike to Stop Drug Executions in Ghezelhesar Prison

Unit 2 of Ghezelhesar Prison continued their sixth day of a sit-in strike to stop the executions of the six drug defendants transferred to the pre-execution solitary confinement cells  of the prison on 13 July. 

IHRNGO previously reported the identities of four of the transferred men as Seyed Iman Heidari from Tehran, Ayoub Asadi from Harsin, Vahid Teimuri and Hamed Nazariani from Kouhdasht.

This collective action mirrors the historic protest of October 2025, when more than 1,500 prisoners on death row for drug offences in Unit 2 of Ghezelhesar Prison staged a mass six-day strike, sewing their lips shut to demand an end to executions. Supported by families demonstrating outside the parliament building in Tehran, the prisoners successfully pressured authorities to halt drug-related executions pending legislative amendments. Since the October 2025 strike, IHRNGO has recorded the secret execution of only one individual, Alireza Ahmadi, for drug offences at the prison.

On 21 October 2025, the spokesperson of Iran’s Parliament (Majles) Judiciary and Legal Commission said a proposed bill to amend the Anti-Narcotics Law would remove the death penalty from eight drug-related offences, significantly narrowing the scope of capital punishment in narcotics cases. However, no text of the proposed amendments, timeline for adoption or details of the specific provisions to be changed have been made public, leaving the scope and practical impact of the announced reforms unclear.