On August 16, 2025, Amir Raisian, the lawyer of Sharifeh Mohammadi, told Shargh in an interview that “the death sentence of Sharifeh Mohammadi has been upheld by the Supreme Court.” He explained: “Branch 39 of the Supreme Court, which had previously overturned Sharifeh Mohammadi’s death sentence, this time—despite all the remaining ambiguities and objections—has upheld the death sentence.”
On October 12, 2024, Mohammadi’s lawyers had announced that the Supreme Court of Iran (Branch 39) overturned her initial death sentence and referred the case back to the Revolutionary Court for retrial. However, instead of ensuring a fair judicial process, authorities reissued the death sentence. Reports further indicated that the judge presiding over her retrial was the son of the judge in her original trial, raising serious concerns about nepotism and the absence of due process. Following this renewed verdict, Mohammadi’s lawyers once again filed for a retrial, and the case was referred back to Branch 39 of the Supreme Court.
As Raisian emphasized: “Although none of the issues on the basis of which Branch 39 of the Supreme Court had previously overturned the verdict have been resolved, this time the branch has upheld the death sentence.”
The Campaign to Defend Mohammadi has stated that her death sentence rests on the pretext of her past membership in an independent, legal, and public labor organization over a decade ago—underscoring the baseless and politically motivated nature of the ruling.
Sharifeh Mohammadi was arrested on December 5, 2023, in Rasht and has remained in detention ever since. She spent 26 days in solitary confinement before being transferred to Sanandaj Prison on December 31, 2023. During this period, she was denied access to her lawyer and allowed only two phone calls, one of them to her 11-year-old son. On February 28, 2024, she was returned to Lakan Prison in Rasht, where she remains detained.
The upholding of Mohammadi’s death sentence comes only weeks after the executions of two political prisoners in Iran, Behrooz Ehsani and Mehdi Hasani, who were executed on July 27 on charges of moharebeh (“enmity against God”). The alarming rise in politically motivated death sentences has shocked Iranian civil society, which continues to demand the abolition of the death penalty and an end to the criminalization of peaceful activism.
In addition to Sharifeh Mohammadi, at least two other women political prisoners—Pakhshan Azizi and Varishe Moradi—are also under threat of execution.
Femena strongly condemns the unjust and politically motivated death sentence against Sharifeh Mohammadi and demands her immediate and unconditional release. We emphasize that Mohammadi, like many other activists in Iran, is being punished solely for her peaceful activism and defense of labor rights. We call on the international community, human rights organizations, and global civil society to amplify the voices of Sharifeh Mohammadi, Pakhshan Azizi, and Varishe Moradi, all of whom face imminent execution. The continued use of capital punishment to silence dissent constitutes a grave violation of human rights and must be met with urgent international action.