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UN Special Rapporteur Gina Romero Joins Iranian Prisoners’ Hunger Strike Against Executions

Iran Freedom
Gina Romero joins No to Execution Tuesdays hunger strike; freedom-loving Iranians and global supporters stand with political prisoners.

Ms. Gina Romero, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, joined the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign on Tuesday, 13 October 2026. The Colombian expert announced a 24-hour hunger strike in solidarity with political prisoners across Iran who have been staging weekly protests against the death penalty.

Romero stated that the death penalty is being used against people for exercising their rights to freedom of assembly, association, and expression, as well as their political rights. In a video message and thread posted on X, she noted that at least 46 protesters have been executed since March—the highest number of political executions in nearly four decades—following the large-scale protests earlier in 2026. She called for an immediate halt to executions, the quashing of death sentences imposed after unfair trials, and independent monitoring of prisoners at risk, while reiterating that the death penalty should be abolished in all cases.

The “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign began in early 2024 with a hunger strike by prisoners in Ghezel Hesar Prison and has since expanded. On 13 October, participants in 66 prisons across Iran marked the 142nd consecutive week of the action. Romero said she was joining the prisoners “from the outside,” noting that those behind bars are “risking everything.”

Her announcement quickly drew broad international support. Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, reshared the post and described it as important.

Lord David Alton, a crossbench peer in the UK House of Lords with a long record on human rights, publicly backed the move.

British MP Jim Shannon and other parliamentarians and human rights advocates from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Australia also expressed solidarity.

 

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), stated that Romero’s solidarity “should translate into global action to stop executions in Iran,” including independent prison inspections and accountability for officials under universal jurisdiction.

Numerous human rights activists and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and the NCRI from Europe, the United States, Canada, and Australia likewise joined or amplified the initiative on social media.

Ms. Romero also gave an interview to Simaye Azadi television discussing the action.

The gesture highlights growing international attention to the sustained use of the death penalty in Iran and the prisoners’ long-running campaign demanding its end.
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