Iran's Supreme Court has ruled to uphold the death sentence of a human and labor rights activist, nearly a year after overturning her previous death sentence.
Sharifeh Mohammadi was originally sentenced to death on July 4, 2024, by Branch I of the Rasht Revolutionary Court on charges of "membership in a group with the intention of overthrowing the state of the Islamic Republic of Iran" following her activism for women's and labor rights and against the death penalty. Her family has denied that she has been a member of any proscribed or political group. The family has also stated that Mohammadi was tortured following her arrest.
Following a legal battle, the Iranian Supreme Court overturned the death penalty sentence for Mohammadi on October 12, 2024, citing a “lack of evidence for her connection to armed operations” and a “failure to prove membership in the insurgent organization or groups.”
The Rasht Revolutionary Court sentenced Mohammadi to death again in February 2025. This time, the Supreme Court upheld the sentence, despite what her lawyer called the state's failure to address the issues that led to the first sentence being overturned.
Mohammadi's cousin claimed to Radio Farda that the judge who presided over the decision to uphold the death sentence is the son of the judge who originally sentenced her to death in 2024.
The case has drawn international condemnation. Front Line Defenders, an Irish human rights NGOs dedicated to defending human rights activists who are targeted for their activism, condemned the death sentence against Mohammadi as "arbitrary." Amnesty International has also criticized the arrest, trial, and sentence against Mohammadi.
Harry Potter author and women's rights advocate J.K. Rowling has also commented on the case, calling it "horrifying."
According to Amnesty International, in recent years, Iranian authorities "have intensified their use of the death penalty to instil fear among the population and tighten their grip on power."