Iran: Surge in executions leads to fears for women’s rights activists
Imprisoned women’s rights activists in Iran are at risk of being sentenced to death after a surge in executions since the election of new president Masoud Pezeshkian last month.
At least 87 people were executed in July, with another 29 put to death on just one day this month.
There are fears that there will be more executions in the lead-up to the second anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death in custody and the eruption of anger that followed. Ms Amini, 22, was arrested for violating the country’s dress code.
Some 70 women are now reported to be held as political prisoners in Evin prison, including two who have been given the death sentence: Iranian Kurdish journalist Pakhshan Azizi and industrial engineer and women’s rights activist Sharifeh Mohammadi.
The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said a number of women prisoners were at risk of being executed.
“Faced with a women’s movement in Iran that refuses to back down, Islamic Republic authorities are now trying to threaten these women with the gallows, in a desperate attempt to silence dissent,” said Hadi Ghaemi, the executive director of CHRI.
Zeinab Bayazidi, a former political prisoner, told The Guardian that the death penalties were intended to destroy the unified fight against the regime.
“The Islamic Republic is [taking revenge against] the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution that spanned all borders from Kurdistan to Balochistan and Tehran, and caused solidarity and empathy and a revolution at this level, which has been unprecedented so far,” she said.