In a recent audio message from Yazd Central Prison, political prisoner Parisa Kamali condemned Iran’s use of the death penalty and appealed for the lives of prisoners currently facing execution.
Parisa Kamali, a political prisoner serving an eight-and-a-half-year prison sentence in Iran, has released an audio message from Yazd prison condemning the use of executions and calling for the death sentences of several political prisoners to be overturned. Kamali is a mother of one child.
Kamali is imprisoned on charges that include insulting Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, propaganda against the state, and membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). Her message comes amid growing concern over the number of political prisoners facing execution and reports of deteriorating prison conditions.
Opening her message, Kamali described what she sees as a climate of repression inside Iran.
“Greetings to the martyrs of the path of freedom and their families. Here, cardboard rulers govern. This is a place where one is stunned by the endless crimes. Cries are answered with bullets and the noose. There is not a day that passes without an execution, without lives being taken.”
Referring to the execution of political prisoners, she continued:
“Our fellow countrymen are victims of hands stained with blood—hands that use their pens to sign death sentences. For years, the rule of the mullahs, together with the systematic brutality of the Revolutionary Guards, has committed crimes beyond imagination.”
Kamali repeatedly called for an end to capital punishment.
“No to executions, because they are a tool for creating fear and repression.”
“No to executions, because they are essential to the survival of the mullahs’ rule and destructive of humanity.”
Addressing those who carry out executions, she said:
“You execute in the hope of ending us. You have miscalculated. We are countless.”
She then invoked the names of recently executed political prisoners and protesters:
“We are Vahid Baniamerian, Mohammad Taghavi, Babak Alipour, Pouya Ghobadi, Abolhassan Montazer, Shahrokh Daneshvarkar, Mohammad Amin Biglari, Amir Hossein Hatami, Ali Fahim, Shahin Vahedparast, Sasan Azadvar, Abbas Akbari, and all those whom you wanted to silence through execution.”
“We are grains of wheat. One by one, we become a thousand harvests.”
Kamali also appealed for the lives of prisoners currently facing execution, naming Manouchehr Fallah, Amin (Peyman) Farahavar, Zahra Tabari, Karim Khojasteh, Alireza Merdasi, Farshad Etemadi-Far, Reza Abdali, Massoud Jamei, and Mohammad Javad Vafaei-Sani.
“I call for the death sentences against my sisters and brothers to be overturned.”
She concluded:
“I hope for the day when there is no trace of execution in my homeland Iran, or anywhere else in the world.”
The message comes as concerns grow over the treatment of Kamali herself. According to reports published on February 5, 2025, prison authorities in Isfahan Prison had denied her access to medication required for a thyroid condition. Reports indicate that despite needing specialized treatment and medical supervision, she has been prevented from visiting medical facilities and has not been provided with necessary medication.
Her message also comes amid increasing concern over the use of the death penalty in political cases. In recent months, courts have issued or reaffirmed death sentences against several political prisoners, while human rights groups have warned that the number of executions carried out in Iran remains among the highest in the world.