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Iran’s Surge in Executions

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Summary of the Parliamentary Meeting

On Tuesday, January 28, 2025, a parliamentary meeting titled “Iran: Alarming Surge in Executions – Urgent Call to Save the Lives of Political Prisoners on Death Row” was held in Committee Room 1 of the Lords Corridor. The meeting, moderated by Narges Rahmanfard, brought together MPs, former political prisoners, and human rights advocates to address the alarming increase in executions in Iran, with a particular focus on the urgent cases of Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, who are at imminent risk of execution. This meeting was also held in conjunction with the 1st anniversary of the ‘No to execution Tuesdays’ campaign, a grass roots, political prisoner led campaign during which political prisoners across over 30 (and counting) prisons in Iran go on hunger strike every Tuesday of the week to protest against the alarming surge in executions. As Amnesty Intl has reported, over 1000 executions were carried out last year in Iran, 870 of them under Masoud Pezeshkian’s presidency and with gross violations and confessions gained under torture.

The meeting featured testimonies from former political prisoners, including Ahmad Ebrahimi, President of the Association of Former Political Prisoners in England, who provided firsthand accounts of Iran’s brutal prison system and mass executions, particularly referencing the 1988 massacre. Jamshid Adhami and Reza Rahmani, both former political prisoners, also spoke, reinforcing the dire conditions faced by prisoners in Iran. A special video message was shared from Said Masouri, one of Iran’s longest-serving political prisoners, imprisoned for over 25 years.


Parliamentary speakers included David Pinto MP (Labour Party), Jim Shannon MP (Democratic Unionist Party and head of the Parliamentary Group on Religious Freedom), Dawn Butler MP (Labour Party), Lord Whitty, Baroness O’Loan, and former Welsh MP William Powell. They condemned the Iranian regime’s use of executions as a tool of repression and called for stronger international action. A video clip highlighting the Tuesday No to Execution Campaign was also presented, emphasising global opposition to Iran’s capital punishment practices.

The key demand of the meeting was a strong and immediate call for the halt of the executions of Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, alongside broader appeals for international pressure on Iran to end its systematic use of capital punishment against political prisoners. Speakers urged the UK government to speak up for Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani to ensure their executions are halted, and to urge the UK government to make relations with Iran conditional on the basis that it stops human rights violations.


The meeting reinforced the urgency of mobilizing political and public support to save lives and hold the Iranian regime accountable for its human rights violations.

Speakers also highlighted the role of the main opposition, National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and Mrs Maryam Rajavi’s 10 point plan for a future democratic Iran which includes safeguarding of human rights, gender equality and abolishment of the death penalty.


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