Iran Sentences Labor Activist To Death Amid Rights Groups' Outcry

Labor activist Sharifeh Mohammadi has been sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court in the northern city of Rasht, rights groups told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda on July 4, a move her supporters have labeled "medieval and criminal."

The court said the woman been convicted on charges of "armed rebellion against the state" and included as evidence her membership in an independent labor organization.

She was also accused of being a member of the banned Komala Kurdish separatist party, which the family denied.

The Norway-based Hengaw and U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency also reported on Mohammadi’s death sentence.

The Campaign for the Defense of Sharifeh Mohammadi described the labor organization -- the Coordination Committee for Helping to Establish Labor Organizations -- as legal but said that, in any case, she had not been a member for 10 years.

The Defense Campaign called the court verdict against her "medieval and criminal."

“Many believe that this ridiculous and baseless verdict was issued solely to create an atmosphere of fear and intimidation among Gilan [Province] activists,” the group said.

Mohammadi’s aunt, Vida Mohammadi, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that the woman has been tortured in prison following her arrest on December 5, 2023, and that she had spent several months in solitary confinement.

Vida Mohammadi said Sharifeh Mohammadi was not affiliated with any political organization inside or outside the country.

The Hengaw rights watchdog said Mohammadi "endured mental and physical torture at the hands of Iranian Intelligence interrogators...who sought to extract a forced confession from her."

The U.S.-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, which focuses on Iranian issues, said the death sentence was linked to "her involvement with an independent labor union."

"This extreme ruling highlights the harsh crackdown on dissent within Iran, particularly against labor activists amid economic turmoil," it said.

The 11 activists were detained in August 2023 in the northern province of Gilan.

Major protests erupted in Gilan Province and throughout the country in 2022 following the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish-Iranian woman who had been detained for allegedly flouting Iran's strict dress code for women.

More than 500 protesters were killed nationwide and thousands arrested during the months of unrest.

Domestic and International rights activists have accused Tehran of using the death penalty to intimidate protesters and others following the mass demonstrations.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Iran “remains one of the world’s top practitioners of the death penalty, applying it to individuals convicted of crimes committed as children and under vague national security charges; occasionally, it is also used for nonviolent offenses.”

Source: rferl.org, Staff, July 5, 2024

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