Some Iranian prisoners facing execution reportedly sew lips shut amid hunger strike

Over 1,500 death row inmates at a prison in the Tehran area have been on a hunger strike, according to a report on Tuesday citing Iranian human rights groups, with some of the prisoners going as far as sewing their mouths shut.

According to the Guardian, the hunger strike began two weeks ago, after six inmates at the Ghezel Hesar prison were transferred to solitary confinement ahead of their presumed execution.

Video filmed from inside the facility shows dozens of prisoners holding up placards reading “No to Executions.”

Other graphic videos showed some inmates with their lips sewn shut, with others chanting: “Be our voice.” The report said prison guards have not responded to their strike and have refused medical treatment for some inmates.

“These are prisoners who committed errors simply to afford the basic necessities of life, and they deeply regret their actions. Where else in the world is a human life taken for a first mistake?” the prisoners said in a statement seen by AFP.

The death row inmates are slated to be executed for charges linked to this year’s wave of anti-government protests, as well as various drug offenses, the report said.

The prisoners went on hunger strike in the second unit of Qezel Hesar prison in Karaj, in protest against the execution of death sentences and the transfer of the number of those sentenced to death to solitary confinement on the 15th day.#Iran #IranProtest #StopExecutionsInIran pic.twitter.com/FQeVbgDJy7

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Iran has stepped up executions in recent months, with one source in the country attributing the escalation to the war with the US and Israel that began in late February.

“Whenever the shadow of war over the regime lifts even slightly, the regime becomes more savage,” the source told the Guardian.

According to the Norway-based organization Iran Human Rights (IHR) group, over 424 have been executed so far this year.

“Last year alone, at least 795 people were hanged on drug-related charges, with almost no international reaction and hardly any domestic or social media campaigns to save them,” IHR’s director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam told the British newspaper.

“By staging this protest, the prisoners in Ghezel Hesar are taking an extraordinary risk,” he said. “They know that the authorities can execute them at any moment, yet they have chosen to raise their voices in the hope that the international community will finally hear them and increase the political cost of these executions.”

On Tuesday, Iran announced the hanging of the two men on charges relating to the anti-government protests that peaked in January, with media reporting they were executed in a public square.

Amnesty International condemned the hangings as an “escalation,” saying it “following the arbitrary execution of at least three other protesters last week, marks a further escalation in the authorities’ use of the death penalty to quash dissent.”

According to Amnesty, Iran conducts the second most executions of any country, after China.