اعدام نکنید

Politically loaded protest vocabulary. Used to demand a stop to executions of protesters in Iran. Not vulgar, but speaking it publicly inside Iran can carry legal risk.
What it means

Persian imperative meaning do not execute. Used as a protest slogan and social media hashtag against the Islamic Republic's execution of detained protesters, especially from October 2022 onward.

The mechanics

Functions as both a moral demand and a tactical pressure tool. Activists pair it with the names of specific defendants to put each individual case in front of foreign governments, journalists, and global publics in real time.

In our voice

Edam-nakonid is one of the cleanest slogans of the Mahsa movement. Two words, one demand, a verb in the imperative. It does what good protest language does, it puts the cost of saying nothing on everyone in earshot.

Why this is in the glossary

Learners following Iranian news after 2022 will see this hashtag everywhere. Knowing it lets them read the room rather than wonder why a phrase keeps repeating.

Strength 3/5Safe withActivists, journalists, diaspora communities, anyone supportive of the protest movement.Never withState officials, IRGC-affiliated contacts, anyone whose position depends on the regime. Saying it in person at the wrong table can attract surveillance.Origin / platformTwitter and Instagram during the autumn 2022 protest wave; rapidly crossed into street graffiti and chants.
اعدام نکنید
edam-nakonid
do not execute (protest hashtag)
phrasea2
Quick Reference
e-DAM na-ko-NID
do not execute (protest hashtag)
a2
اعدام نکنید pronounced by Elyar

The two-word demand that flooded Iranian timelines the week the gallows started moving.

اعدام نکنید (edam-nakonid) is plain Persian imperative, do not execute. It moved from a sentence into a slogan in October and November 2022, when revolutionary courts began handing down execution warrants for protesters arrested during the Mahsa movement. Activists, lawyers, and ordinary Iranians inside and outside the country pinned the hashtag to every post, every banner, every public letter. The two words read as both a moral demand and a tactical move, naming the specific gallows and forcing every politician to either repeat the words or refuse them. The phrase is short on purpose, you can paint it on a wall in three seconds.

Sources

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