More than 400 prominent women from across the world and a group of United Nations experts, in separate statements, have called for stopping the execution of Zahra Shahbaz Tabari, a 67-year-old political prisoner held in Lakan Prison in the northern city of Rasht. According to reports, she faces execution for holding a banner bearing the slogan “Woman, Resistance, Freedom.”
The statement by more than 400 prominent women worldwide—including Nobel Prize laureates, former heads of government, members of parliaments, UN special rapporteurs, media figures, leading human rights activists, and sports personalities—was published on Tuesday, December 22.
The signatories condemned the death sentence issued against Tabari and stated that it was handed down after a roughly 10-minute-long “show trial”; a trial that, according to them, was conducted remotely via video conference, during which the political prisoner was denied access to her lawyer of choice.
They emphasized that the charge attributed to Tabari was announced as “cooperation with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran,” while the only evidence cited in her case was her holding a banner with the slogan “Woman, Resistance, Freedom”; a slogan that, according to the statement, has become particularly common among female political prisoners.
In conclusion, the signatories called for Tabari’s immediate release and urged governments around the world to stand alongside the women of Iran in the pursuit of democracy, equality, and freedom.
On November 4, Tabari detailed the death sentence issued against her in a letter and, citing legal provisions, described it as “lacking legal basis and indicative of the absence of a fair trial.”
In part of her letter, she wrote that her sentence was issued on the charge of “baghi” through alleged membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, and that in addition, she was sentenced to one year in prison on the charge of “propaganda against the regime.”
The political prisoner cited the installation of a banner with the slogan “Woman, Resistance, Freedom” and the presence of an audio file on her mobile phone, which she had not sent anywhere, as the evidence in her case.
Warning by United Nations experts
A group of independent United Nations experts also issued a separate statement on Tuesday, December 23, calling for the immediate halt of Tabari’s execution.
The experts stated that Tabari’s case demonstrates “serious and systematic violations” of fair trial guarantees and the unjustified use of the death penalty for vague and ill-defined security charges.
According to the experts, Tabari was arrested during a raid on her home without a judicial warrant, subjected to interrogation in solitary confinement for one month, and pressured to confess.
They emphasized that she did not have access to her chosen lawyer and appeared in court with a court-appointed lawyer.
Among the signatories of the statement are Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Iranian regime; Claudia Flores (Chair), Ivana Krstić (Vice-Chair), Dorothy Estrada-Tanck, Hina Jilani, and Laura Nyirinkindi, members of the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls; Reem Alsalem, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls; and Morris Tidball-Binz, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.
The statement noted that there is no “intentional murder” in this case and that due process has been widely violated, warning that carrying out Tabari’s execution would constitute an “arbitrary execution.”
The experts also emphasized that criminalizing women’s activism for gender equality and framing it as “armed rebellion” constitutes a severe form of gender discrimination.
On October 31, Amnesty International also issued a statement calling for the immediate annulment of Tabari’s death sentence and stressed that she was sentenced to death after an “extremely unfair” trial at the Rasht Revolutionary Court.
On October 25, the human rights website HRANA reported that Ahmad Darvish-Goftar, head of Branch One of the Rasht Revolutionary Court, sentenced Tabari to death on the charge of “baghi” through alleged cooperation with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran.
According to human rights sources, currently about 70 prisoners across the country are facing confirmation or implementation of death sentences on political charges, and more than 100 others with similar accusations are at risk of receiving death sentences.
