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UN and prominent women demand halt to execution
United Nations human rights experts and over 400 high-profile women, including Nobel laureates and former heads of state, have called on Iran to spare the life of Zahra Tabari, a 67-year-old electrical engineer and women's rights advocate sentenced to death for alleged armed rebellion.
Arrest and trial under scrutiny
Tabari was detained in April during a raid on her home in Rasht, conducted without a judicial warrant, according to her family. She was held in solitary confinement for a month and subjected to intense interrogation, during which authorities pressured her to confess to taking up arms against the state and affiliating with the banned opposition group, the People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI).
In October, a Revolutionary Court convicted her of "armed rebellion" after a trial lasting less than 10 minutes, conducted via video link. The verdict relied on scant evidence: a piece of cloth bearing the slogan "Woman, Resistance, Freedom" and an unpublished audio message. Iranian officials have not publicly addressed the case.
UN condemns procedural violations
In a joint statement, UN special rapporteurs on human rights in Iran, violence against women, and arbitrary executions, along with the Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls, denounced the case as emblematic of "serious violations of international human rights law."
"The severe procedural violations in this case-including unlawful detention, denial of legal representation, an extraordinarily brief trial, and reliance on insufficient evidence-render any conviction unsafe."
UN Human Rights Council experts
The experts emphasized that international law restricts capital punishment to the "most serious crimes," such as intentional killing. They warned that executing Tabari would constitute an "arbitrary execution" and a "grave form of gender discrimination," given that her activism for gender equality was treated as evidence of armed rebellion.
Broader crackdown on women and dissent
Tabari is one of at least 51 people facing the death penalty in Iran for national security offenses, including "enmity against God" and "corruption on Earth," according to UN experts. Another woman, Kurdish rights activist Pakhshan Azizi, received a death sentence on the same charge of armed rebellion. The UN has previously stated that Azizi's conviction appears linked solely to her work as a social worker supporting refugees in Iraq and Syria.
Executions in Iran have surged in 2025. The Norway-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR) reported that 1,426 people, including 41 women, were executed in the first 11 months of the year-a 70% increase compared to the same period in 2024. Nearly half of those executed were convicted of drug-related offenses, while 53 faced charges related to national security.
Global appeal for clemency
On Tuesday, more than 400 prominent women, including Nobel laureates and former presidents of Switzerland and Ecuador, as well as ex-prime ministers of Finland, Peru, Poland, and Ukraine, signed a public appeal demanding Tabari's immediate release. The statement, organized by the UK-based group Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran, condemned Iran's use of the death penalty against women.
"Iran is today the world's number one executioner of women per capita. Zahra's case lays bare this terror: in Iran, daring to hold a sign declaring women's resistance to oppression is now punishable by death."
Public appeal statement
