More than 1,000 death-row inmates held in a unit at Iran’s Ghezel Hesar Prison have entered their third week of a mass hunger strike to protest ongoing executions, with some prisoners sewing their own lips shut in a desperate act of defiance, according to reports.
The escalating demonstration at the U.S.-sanctioned Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, near Tehran, has also drawn attention to the Islamic Republic’s heavy reliance on capital punishment, particularly against those convicted on drug-related charges.
The hunger strike began on July 13, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported, after six inmates were moved into solitary confinement ahead of possible executions. Other Iranian human rights groups stated the prisoners had been convicted of drug offenses.
State executions go up under Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. 4/22/25 (Nooses: Photo by Loredana Sangiuliano/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images, President of Iran: Photo by Iranian Presidency/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Reports indicate that the striking prisoners have been chanting “No to Execution” and have taken extreme measures, including sewing their lips shut.
One media outlet cited a video appearing to show an inmate speaking to a camera, saying he intends to sew his lips shut because, six days after the hunger strike began, no prison official had responded to the protest.
The Guardian reported that the same footage appears to show an unseen prisoner using a needle and thread to stitch the man’s lips shut.
In a statement issued on July 27, the exiled Iranian opposition group the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) reported that prisoners in Unit 2 of Ghezel Hesar Prison were in “deteriorating physical condition” because of the hunger strike.
The organization stated, “Although 15 days have passed since the start of this hunger strike, the regime’s judiciary has given no response to the striking prisoners. Despite their deteriorating health and urgent medical needs, prison guards have taken no measures to care for them.”
The NCRI added that the striking prisoners called on the public, human rights organizations, and international bodies to take immediate action to halt the executions.
This marks the second major demonstration at the facility in recent months. A similar protest occurred at Ghezel Hesar Prison in October of last year, when more than 1,500 inmates staged a six-day hunger strike, according to reports.
That demonstration ended after senior judicial and prison officials visited the facility and promised to temporarily halt executions and review the prisoners’ cases.
However, human rights activists reported those promises were never fulfilled, according to Ynet.
Antony Blinken, United States Secretary of State, speaks during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, during the 76th Session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, Pool)
The State Department designated and sanctioned Ghezel Hesar Prison in 2024 for gross human rights violations and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of prisoners. “These heinous acts included multiple severe beatings of political prisoners engaged in a peaceful hunger strike to protest the increased wave of executions being carried out at the facility,” then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the time.
According to Amnesty International, the Islamic Republic of Iran executed at least 2,159 people in 2025. Iran’s total helped drive the number of executions recorded by Amnesty International to at least 2,707 across 17 countries—the highest figure the organization has recorded since 1981. The total excludes China, where execution data is classified as a state secret and Amnesty believes thousands of executions were carried out.
