Thanks to a major international campaign of solidarity, Sharifeh Mohammadi’s death sentence has been commuted!

Amir Raeesian, the defence lawyer for Sharifeh Mohammadi, a labour activist currently held in Lakan Prison in Rasht, northern Iran, announced that his client’s death sentence has been commuted to 30 years in prison following an order from the Head of the Judiciary.

Mr. Raeesian stated that with the decision to commute having been signed off by the regime’s chief judge,, the immediate danger of Ms. Mohammadi being put to death is averted for the time being.

Grave fears for the fate of Ms. Mohammadi had been mounting throughout 2025, with all indications being that the theocratic regime were determined to bring the courageous activist to the scaffold despite it being clear that she was completely innocent of the charges levelled against her. 

Mr. Raeesian also emphasized that legal efforts will continue to push for either a retrial or the application of Article 477 of the country’s Criminal Procedure Code, with the ultimate goal of overturning his client’s conviction in its entirety and her complete acquittal.

It is important to note that Article 477 of the Criminal Procedure Code is considered an extraordinary and special provision in Iranian criminal law.  Under this article, if the Head of the Judiciary determines that a final verdict issued by a court is in “clear contradiction with Islamic law”, he can order the case to be referred to the Supreme Court for judicial review.  In practice, this article serves as one of the last legal avenues for reviewing final sentences – particularly those pertaining to political, ideological, and death penalty cases.

Ms. Mohammadi was arrested by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic at her address in Rasht, Gilan Province, northern Iran, on 5 December 2023. Just over three weeks later, she was transferred from Lakan Prison to Sanandaj Prison, Kordestan Province, to be held and interrogated under the custody of the Ministry of Intelligence.  It is alleged that she was extensively brutalised and tortured during this period and eventually forced into signing a “confession” to the spurious charges against her in return for being transferred back to the relatively less severe conditions at Lakan Prison and the permitting of access to her by family members.

Ms. Mohammadi was initially sentenced to death on 4 July 2024, by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Rasht.  The decision to execute this labour and women’s activist on trumped-up charges of involvement in “propaganda against the regime”, “acting against national security”, and “membership of a proscribed opposition group” quickly sparked widespread revulsion both in Iran and abroad.

While CODIR of course recognises that the ordeal of Sharifeh Mohammadi is far from over, with a life sentence of imprisonment still hanging over her, we warmly welcome the commuting of her death sentence and thus the removal of the immediate threat to her life.

CODIR applauds and fully supports the valiant efforts of Ms. Mohammadi’s legal advocates to have her conviction overturned and secure her complete acquittal thereafter.

We also warmly applaud and congratulate all those, who have tirelessly campaigned and sought to lobby and put pressure on the Islamic Republic government over the case of Ms. Mohammadi and the horrifically cruel ordeal inflicted upon her merely on account of her legitimate and peaceful activism.

CODIR maintains that the reprieve from execution granted to Ms. Mohammadi is the latest in a long line of examples that show the tangible success of concerted, steadfast, and principled campaigns of solidarity from trade unionists in Britain and internationally with their beleaguered and suffering Iranian counterparts, as well as the bringing of pressure to bear on the Islamic Republic authorities through letters of protest to their embassies and diplomatic missions worldwide.

We will continue to call and campaign for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience held in Iran, the immediate institution of a moratorium on the death penalty in Iran pending its abolition outright, as well as the full recognition of human and democratic rights – including trade union rights in accordance with the provisions of the country’s own Constitution.

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Central Executive Council

CODIR