More than 1,000 death-row inmates held in a unit of Iran's notorious Ghezel Hesar Prison have entered a third week of a mass hunger strike, with some reportedly sewing their lips shut in protest against the regime's use of executions. The action highlights growing unrest inside Iran's prison system amid what human rights monitors describe as an intensifying crackdown on dissidents, and draws renewed attention to conditions at a facility already under US sanctions.

The protest coincides with a reported surge in executions and detentions across Iran, with Fox News citing figures of nearly 50 executions carried out in the past three months alongside roughly 6,000 arbitrary arrests. Hadi Ghaemi, director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran, characterised the regime's actions as unchecked, saying they have made ordinary life untenable for dissidents. The report notes Iran has also carried out public hangings of protesters amid continuing unrest.