The Iranian regime has long viewed women as central to the country’s struggle for freedom—and therefore as central targets of repression.
The nationwide uprising of 2022 fundamentally altered the political landscape, demonstrating that Iranian women were no longer merely participants in protest movements but among their principal organizers and symbols. Since then, the authorities have steadily intensified their campaign against women, expanding the use of executions, imprisonment, corporal punishment, and judicial intimidation.
The July 2026 human rights record offers one of the clearest illustrations of this strategy.
Rather than representing isolated abuses, the month’s events reveal a systematic effort to use the judicial system as an instrument of political control, with women increasingly bearing the brunt of the regime’s campaign of fear.
Death Sentences as a Political Weapon
Among the most alarming developments in July was the continued expansion of death sentences against women accused of participating in anti-regime protests.
These are not ordinary criminal prosecutions.
Many of the women sentenced to death have been charged with broadly defined political offenses such as baghi (“armed rebellion against the state”), a charge the regime has increasingly used against political dissidents and individuals allegedly connected to organized opposition groups.
One of the most significant cases is that of Arghavan Fallahi, a 25-year-old political prisoner sentenced to death after enduring months of solitary confinement, prolonged interrogation, and reported torture. Arrested for a second time after previously being imprisoned during the 2022 protests, her case reflects a broader pattern in which former protesters remain under constant surveillance and repeated prosecution.
Another example is Mahnaz Chardouli, arrested during the January 2026 nationwide uprising and sentenced to death along with a ten-year prison term. Members of her family have reportedly been pressured into silence while the authorities portray political protest as armed insurrection.
The regime has also reaffirmed the death sentence against Zahra Tabari, a 68-year-old political prisoner educated in Sweden, whose trial reportedly lasted only minutes and proceeded without the presence of her chosen lawyer.
These cases demonstrate a troubling evolution in the regime’s judicial strategy.
Women are no longer being punished merely for defying compulsory social restrictions. They are increasingly being prosecuted as political enemies of the state.
Executing Mothers
Each of them was a mother.
Setayesh Mohammadpour, 51, was executed in Adelabad Prison in Shiraz on drug-related charges, leaving behind two young children.
Days later, Parvin Chardouli, a 39-year-old mother of several children, was hanged in Qezel Hesar Prison despite reports indicating that the court did not consider her the principal perpetrator in the homicide case for which she was convicted.
Later in the month, Azam Gerami, 58, was executed after spending eight years on death row.
Their stories expose a recurring pattern documented by human rights organizations.
Many women executed in Iran have themselves experienced domestic violence, legal discrimination, poverty, or coercion before becoming entangled in criminal cases. In drug-related prosecutions especially, women frequently occupy the lowest levels of trafficking networks, often acting under pressure from relatives or family members, while organizers and major traffickers frequently escape accountability.
The result is a justice system that often punishes society’s most vulnerable while leaving more powerful actors untouched.
Beyond Execution: Humiliation as Punishment
The regime’s campaign against women extends well beyond capital punishment.
In July, two women arrested during the January 2026 protests—Neda Dadehjani and Setayesh Sarabi—were each sentenced not only to one year in prison but also to 31 lashes and two years of internal exile.
Such sentences are designed to inflict more than physical pain.
Flogging serves as a deliberate instrument of humiliation, while internal exile isolates activists from their families, communities, and professional lives. Combined with imprisonment, these punishments create a comprehensive system of physical and psychological intimidation.
The fact that Dadehjani is a theater artist recognized for her cultural achievements further demonstrates that professional accomplishment offers no protection against political persecution.
Under the current system, civic engagement itself has become grounds for punishment.
Women Continue to Resist
Yet repression has not eliminated resistance.
Throughout July, imprisoned women continued participating in the growing “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign, which expanded to 59 prisons across Iran.
One of the month’s most remarkable acts of collective resistance occurred at Qezel Hesar Prison, where more than 1,500 prisoners sentenced to death launched a hunger strike.
Outside the prison, hundreds of family members—including mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters—gathered despite pressure from security forces to demand a halt to executions.
The protest ultimately contributed to a temporary suspension of executions in one prison unit pending discussions over amendments to anti-narcotics legislation, and several prisoners previously transferred for imminent execution were returned to the general prison population.
While limited, the outcome demonstrated that organized resistance can still produce tangible results even under severe repression.
Women Have Become Central to the Regime’s Strategy of Fear
The July record illustrates a broader political reality.
Women are increasingly targeted not only because of what they do but because of what they represent.
The authorities understand that women have become among the most visible voices for democratic change inside Iran. Their participation in nationwide protests, civil society, labor activism, student movements, and prison resistance has fundamentally challenged the regime’s monopoly over public life.
In response, the judiciary has become an instrument of deterrence.
Death sentences discourage political activism.
Executions reinforce fear.
Floggings seek public humiliation.
Long prison terms remove influential voices from society.
Together, these measures form a coordinated strategy aimed at raising the personal cost of dissent.
Fear Reveals the Regime’s Insecurity
History suggests that authoritarian governments resort to increasingly severe punishments not when they feel secure, but when they fear losing control.
The escalating repression of women throughout July reflects precisely that dynamic.
By sentencing female political prisoners to death, executing mothers, imposing corporal punishment, and intimidating prisoners’ families, the Iranian regime is attempting to send a broader message to society: resistance carries unbearable consequences.
Yet the persistence of women inside prison walls—and of families gathering outside them despite intimidation—suggests another message is emerging as well.
Far from disappearing under pressure, Iranian women continue to stand at the forefront of the struggle for justice, human rights, and democratic change.
The regime may view them as prime targets of repression.
Increasingly, they have become among its most determined and resilient opponents.
Source: Iran News Update, Mahmoud Hamidi, August 7, 2026
"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde
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