October 30, 2026 – International support for Iran’s long-running “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign continued to grow this week, as a senior European criminal defense lawyer and Ukraine’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning Center for Civil Liberties publicly expressed solidarity with political prisoners who have maintained weekly hunger strikes against the death penalty for 144 consecutive weeks.
European Criminal Bar Lawyer Joins 144th Week of Iran’s Anti-Execution Hunger Strike
On Tuesday, October 27, 2026—the 144th week of the campaign—Alexis Anagnostakis, Head of the Human Rights Committee of the European Criminal Bar Association (ECBA), announced that he was joining the prisoners’ 24-hour hunger strike. In a message of solidarity, he referenced recent actions by UN Special Rapporteurs Leopoldo Maldonado (on freedom of opinion and expression) and Gina Romero (on freedom of peaceful assembly and association), as well as warnings from Mai Sato regarding the human rights situation in Iran. He stated that these figures “are all saying the same thing, and this is not a coincidence.”
Anagnostakis noted that at least 46 political prisoners and protesters have been executed in Iran since March 19, 2026, with more than 100 others remaining at risk of execution. He added:
“Today I also join them. 24 hours without food is nothing compared to being in the cell of those sentenced to death. Solidarity costs us little, but shows those in prison that they have not been forgotten.”
🔵پیوستن رئیس کمیته حقوق‌بشر کانون وکلای جنایی اروپا به کارزار سه‌شنبه‌های نه به اعدام
پیوستن الکسیس آناگنوستاکیس، رئیس کمیته حقوق‌بشر کانون وکلای جنایی اروپا، به اعتصاب غذای کارزار سه‌شنبه‌های نه به اعدام
الکسیس آناگنوستاکیس، رئیس کمیته حقوق‌بشر کانون وکلای جنایی اروپا (ECBA)،… pic.twitter.com/Y1zv684Bqs— Simay Azadi (@simayazaditv) October 29, 2026
Ukraine’s Nobel-Winning Center for Civil Liberties Backs Iranian Political Prisoners
The same day, the Center for Civil Liberties (CCL) of Ukraine—the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate organization headed by Oleksandra Matviychuk—issued a public statement of support. In posts on Facebook and X, the Center declared:
“Solidarity knows no borders.
The Center for Civil Liberties stands with Iranian political prisoners who have been protesting against the death penalty every Tuesday for 144 consecutive weeks.
People in Iran face persecution for their political beliefs, participation in protests, and alleged ties to opposition movements. Some face the death penalty.
Today, we join the international solidarity campaign #NoToExecutionTuesdays.
We call for an end to executions, the protection of political prisoners’ rights, and continued international support for those who face repression for standing up for freedom.
You are not alone! We stand with you!”
The CCL highlighted that the campaign, launched by political prisoners in January 2024, has now spread to 66 prisons across Iran. It also noted the recent 24-hour solidarity hunger strikes by UN Special Rapporteurs Maldonado and Romero, and pointed to the scale of executions, including figures cited by Amnesty International showing more than 2,000 executions in 2025 alone.
Global Solidarity Grows Against Rising Executions in Iran
The “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign began in Ghezel Hesar Prison in January 2024 as a weekly hunger strike by political prisoners protesting the use of capital punishment. It has since expanded significantly, with prisoners in dozens of facilities refusing food every Tuesday. International human rights experts and organizations have increasingly recognized the campaign as a sustained act of resistance against a sharp rise in executions in Iran.
These latest expressions of support from a leading European criminal bar association official and from Ukraine’s Nobel-winning civil liberties organization add to a growing wave of global solidarity with the prisoners and their demand for an end to the death penalty.
