Iran | Woman, 23, Faces Hanging for Blasphemy Over Social Media Post

Najmeh Amini, a 23-year-old woman detained in Mashhad Central Prison, was sentenced to death on the charge of blasphemy (insulting the prophet) over her social media post. The trial court rejected her statutory defenses of a slip of the tongue and intoxication-induced lack of intent, though the capital sentence remains subject to appellate review and has not yet been upheld by the Supreme Court. 

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of Iran Human Rights, stated: “Sentencing a 23-year-old woman to death for what she expressed on social media is an extremely alarming development. Although blasphemy carries the death penalty under Iranian law and two men were executed on such charges in 2023, this case risks expanding the use of the death penalty against peaceful online expression. The fact that the sentence has been imposed on a young woman adds another serious dimension. Without a strong international response now, we risk seeing a broader use and implementation of death sentences for expression. The international community must demand that Najmeh Amini’s sentence be overturned and call for an immediate moratorium on all executions.”

 According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, Najmeh Amini, a 23-year-old political prisoner held in Mashhad (Vakil Abad) Central Prison, was sentenced to death. On 7 October, Khorasan Newspaper confirmed the news using her initials. According to the report, Najmeh was arrested in Mashhad on 3 February 2026 “following monitoring by FATA (Cyber Police) experts aimed at tackling cybercrime, on charges of making highly vulgar and offensive insults against the Infallible Imams.” 

Najmeh was tried by Branch 6 of the Khorasan Razavi province Criminal Court One, presided over by Judge Javad Asian-Yazd, and sentenced to death on the charge of sabol-nabi (insulting the prophet) through her social media post. The official report does not specify the date the verdict was issued. 

Article 262 of the Islamic Penal Code (IPC) defines sabol-nabi as a capital offense, establishing the mandatory death penalty for anyone who swears at or accuses the Prophet Mohammad or any divine prophet of qazf (false accusation of unchastity). Under the Note to Article 262, swearing at or falsely accusing any of the “Twelve Infallible Imams” or Prophet Fatima Zahra of qazf is legally treated as sabol nabi and incurs the same sentence. 

However, Article 263 explicitly lists the statutory defenses that exempt a defendant from the death penalty for sabol nabi. According to the Article: “Whenever a person accused of sabol-nabi claims that their statements were made out of ekrah [coercion], gheflat [inadvertence], sahv [error], or in a state of masti [intoxication] or ghazab [anger], or due to sabgh lesan [a slip of the tongue], or without attention to the meaning of the words, or by quoting another person, they shall not be considered a sabol-nabi [blasphemous or insulter of the Prophet]. 

Furthermore, the Note to Article 263 stipulates that “When sabol-nabi occurs in a state of intoxication or anger, or by quoting another person, and constitutes an insult, it shall carry a discretionary punishment of up to 74 lashes. 

According to Khorsan’s report about Najmeh’s case, "[w]hile the defense lawyer attributed these vulgar and offensive phrases to a 'slip of the tongue’, the young woman, in her final defense, linked the publishing of such foul words to the consumption of hallucinogenic substances and stated: 'I had consumed hallucinogenic mushrooms with a few friends, and while in a hallucinatory state, I posted these sentences on social media after getting heavily carried away by the atmosphere.' However, the presiding judge challenged the statements of the defense counsel and the defendant with several technical legal questions, asking: 'Then why, in that same hallucinatory state, did you not insult other individuals or opponents of the regime, such as America and Israel? Or how, while under the influence of hallucinations, were you deliberate enough to know exactly which channel or social network to publish an offensive post in?'" 

This interrogation demonstrates how presiding judges routinely bypass the statutory exemptions codified in Article 263 by shifting an insurmountable burden of proof onto defendants, treating claims of intoxication or lack of intent as deliberate pretext rather than grounds for mandatory mitigation. 

Although executions for blasphemy charges remain relatively rare compared to other capital offenses, the last recorded executions occurred on 8 May 2023, when Yousef Mehrdad and Sadrollah Fazeli Zare were executed.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, October 9, 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

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