Iran's Supreme Court upheld the death sentence against 54-year-old trade union and human rights activist Sharifeh Mohammadi, accused of "armed rebellion against the state." The decision came ten months after the Supreme Court overturned a previous ruling and referred the case to another court.
The activist's attorney, Amir Raeisian, announced the ruling and stated that the 39th Division of the Supreme Court, which had overturned the death penalty last October, "has this time upheld it despite all the ambiguities and pending objections." Raeisian announced that he will pursue further legal action to try to stop the execution.
Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi denounced the sentence on social media, calling it "an indication of the violent, authoritarian, and repressive nature of the Islamic Republic." She added that "execution is a tool to sow fear and terror in society" and urged the international community not to remain silent.
Mohammadi was sentenced in July 2024 by the Rasht Revolutionary Court on charges of belonging to the Kurdish separatist party Komala, which is illegal in the Islamic Republic, as well as belonging to a group of trade union activists, in a country where all independent organizations are prohibited. However, Amnesty International noted that a source close to the family refuted the alleged relationship with Komala and noted that the activist was only a member of a local union until 2011.
An industrial design engineer, Mohammadi was arrested in December 2023 and transferred to a detention center in Rasht. Throughout her career, she championed women's rights and criticized the mass arrests following the death in custody of young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in September 2022. That incident sparked nationwide protests that were quelled by a crackdown that resulted in some 500 deaths, 22.000 arrests, and at least 10 executions.
