Amnesty International calls for the immediate cancellation of the death sentence of Zahra Shahbaz Tabari, a 67-year-old political prisoner.
Amnesty International issued a statement calling for the immediate annulment of the death sentence of Zahra Shahbaz Tabari, a 67-year-old political prisoner held in Lakan Prison in Rasht, northern Iran. The organization emphasized that she was sentenced to death following a “grossly unfair trial” that lasted only ten minutes at the Revolutionary Court of Rasht.
Iranian authorities must immediately quash Zahra Shahbaz Tabari’s conviction and death sentence. In mid-Oct 2025, a Revolutionary Court in Rasht sentenced her to death following a grossly unfair trial over alleged links to an opposition group according to an informed source. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/8r5dsvX24n
— Amnesty Iran (@AmnestyIran) October 30, 2025
In its statement, Amnesty International said that during the first month of her detention, security agents interrogated and threatened Shahbaz Tabari to extract a “forced confession” on charges such as “taking up arms” and “membership in an opposition group,” but she rejected all accusations.
According to the human rights organization, Shahbaz Tabari’s trial was conducted via video call from inside Lakan Prison, and she met her court-appointed lawyer for the first time during that single hearing.
The organization stressed that Iranian regime authorities continue to use the death penalty as a tool to suppress dissent and must immediately halt all executions.
According to the Iran Human Rights Society website, Ahmad Darvish-Goftar, the head of Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Rasht, sentenced Shahbaz Tabari to death on the charge of “collaboration with opposition groups,” specifically the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
The case file reportedly contains only “a piece of fabric bearing the slogan ‘Woman, Resistance, and Freedom'” and “an unpublished voice message,” with no evidence of organizational ties or armed activity.
Zahra Shahbaz Tabari’s son: The regime fears women like my mother
Soroush Samak, the son of the political prisoner who lives in Sweden, told the British newspaper The Sun that his mother has only ten days to appeal her death sentence, and the family is urgently seeking a lawyer willing to take on her case.
He added: “As long as our mother remains in the custody of this regime, we have no peace of mind. Each day is spent hoping for her release and fearing her loss. She is an intelligent individual with wide-ranging knowledge and professional experience — a bold, informed, and conscious woman whose bravery is unmatched. That is why they want to break her, because the clerical regime fears women like her.”
Addressing Western governments, including the UK and Sweden, Samak said that all trade and diplomatic relations with the Iranian regime should be conditioned on halting executions and the immediate release of political prisoners. He stressed that only international pressure can compel the regime to stop committing crimes.
Shahbaz Tabari is a graduate of Isfahan University of Technology, an electrical engineer, and a member of Iran’s Engineering Organization. She earned her master’s degree in “Sustainable Energy” from the University of Borås in Sweden.
On April 17, Iranian security forces raided Shahbaz Tabari’s home, searched the premises, arrested her, and transferred her to Lakan Prison in Rasht.
Mai Sato, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, stated during the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee session in New York on October 30 that the Iranian regime, through its widespread executions, is on a path toward “crimes against humanity.”
Sara Hossain, chair of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, also told the session that the Iranian regime continues to repress and execute its citizens while severely restricting civil space.
