Fears grow for women’s rights activists jailed in Iran after 87 executions in one month

There are fears for the fates of women’s rights activists imprisoned in Iran after a surge in executions since the election of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, in July.

At least 87 people were reportedly executed in July, with another 29 executed on one day this month. The mass executions included Reza Rasaei , a young man sentenced to death for his participation in the Woman, Life, Freedom protests .

Human rights organisations fear further executions in the lead-up the second anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death in custody and the unprecedented nationwide protests that followed . Amini, who was 22, had been arrested for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code before she died in September 2022.

About 70 women are now reported to be held as political prisoners in Iran’s notorious Evin prison , including two who have been given death sentences: the Iranian Kurdish journalist Pakhshan Azizi and the industrial engineer and women’s rights activist Sharifeh Mohammadi . A further two activists – Varisheh Moradi and Nasim Gholami Simiyari – have been given the same charges but are still to discover if they will be sentenced to death.

The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said multiple female political prisoners are at risk of executions based on “sham charges”.

“Faced with a women’s movement in Iran that refuses to back down, Islamic Republic authorities are now trying to threaten these women with the gallows, in a desperate attempt to silence dissent,” said Hadi Ghaemi, the executive director of CHRI.

The family of Narges Mohammadi , the imprisoned Nobel peace prize winner and celebrated activist, say that she was among the women at Evin prison who were reportedly injured after being beaten by guards for staging a protest in the prison yard against the execution of Rasaei.

The family put out a statement saying that after the protests on 6 August, the women’s ward was flooded with prison guards and security agents, and an order was issued to assault the protesters. Several women who stood in front of the security forces were severely beaten. The family said they were told Narges had collapsed and fainted after being repeatedly punched by guards. UN human rights experts have condemned reports that the women had been denied access to timely and appropriate healthcare.

Azizi and Sharifeh Mohammadi were sentenced to death in July on charges of “armed rebellion against the state”.

Azizi, a 40-year-old Kurdish women’s rights activist and social worker, was reportedly subjected to torture during interrogations, including mock executions. In a letter written from the Evin prison by Azizi, titled Denying the Truth and Its Alternative and published by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights NGO, she said she was tortured, subjected to mock executions and put in solitary confinement.

Zeinab Bayazidi, a former political prisoner and Azizi’s friend, told the Guardian that the death penalties against women and ethnic minorities were designed to dismantle the unified fight against the regime.

“The Islamic Republic is [retaliating against] the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution that spanned all borders from Kurdistan to Balochistan and Tehran, and caused solidarity and empathy and a revolution at this level, which has been unprecedented so far,” she said.

Sharifeh Mohammadi, 45, was arrested at her home in Rasht in December 2023, according to human rights activists.

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Speaking to the Guardian on the condition of anonymity, a close family member said they were shocked and had “never imagined Sharifeh would be issued a death sentence”. They said Sharifeh was also “shocked” after being hopeful of bail.

“Women have been among the strongest individuals standing against the regime during the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. I believe by sentencing Sharifeh and others, they’re taking revenge.”

Sharifeh’s family said they had been reluctant to share the news of her death penalty with her 12-year-old son. “It is very difficult and we are trying to seek help from a child counsellor to break the news with the least amount of harm possible.”

A UN fact-finding mission on Iran this month said minorities in Iran had been disproportionately affected by a “striking surge in executions since the September 2022 protests”, with several death sentences rendered most recently against women of ethnic minority backgrounds.

Activists warned the repression on female activists was also evident through long-term prison sentences based on fabricated charges and forced confessions.

Soma Rostami from Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, said: “It is clear to all that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s only purpose for executions is to spread fear among the people. There has been a lot of pressure on women’s activists and all kinds of repressions have been carried out to prevent women-led demonstrations from happening again.”