Escalation of crackdowns on Iranian women campaigners: 

Theocratic regime sentences one women’s activist to death and another four to imprisonment

HRANA News Agency – A review of judicial verdicts issued over the past week indicates that between 26 June and 3 July, at least five women brought before the court on politically-ideologically motivated charges have had sentences handed down to them by the judiciary. Collectively, these rulings comprise one death sentence, given to Arghavan Fallahi, and a total of 14 years of imprisonment for the four other; Elham Zeraatpisheh, Parnian (Fatemeh) Hashempour, Azadeh Saleki, and Negin Kiani.

These women represent diverse professional and social backgrounds, including a defense attorney, a teacher, a social documentary photographer, an archaeology graduate, as well as political and civil activists. The charges levelled against them are chiefly for having engaged in “assembly and collusion against national security” and “propaganda against the state.” For the severest sentence, issued against Ms. Fallahi, the charges included “Bagh-ye” (“armed insurrection against the Islamic government”).

Three of the five women are currently already incarcerated, while Ms. Zeraatpisheh and Ms. Saleki are on temporary bail pending recall.

The details of the cases and the sentences issued against these individuals are as follows:

1. Arghavan Fallahi

Arghavan Fallahi, 24, was arrested in Tehran in at the beginning of 2025. Security forces transferred her to the infamous Evin Prison, situated just north of Tehran, where her interrogation and judicial proceedings against her continued over the months that followed. Ultimately, Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court presided over by one of the most notorious hanging-judges in the history of the Islamic Republic, Abolqasem Salavati, condemned her to death on the charge of “Bagh-ye” (“armed insurrection”); this ruling is widely deemed to be among the harshest of sentences issued during the recent judicial crackdown. Ms. Fallahi had previously been arrested during the 2022-2023 “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests and subsequently released having completed her original sentence.

2. Elham Zeraatpisheh

Elham Zeraatpisheh is a defence lawyer and a member of the Fars Bar Association in southwestern Iran. She was detained in April on a warrant from of the Shiraz Enforcement of Judgments Department. According to the verdict communicated to her on 2 July, the Shiraz Revolutionary Court sentenced her to five years of imprisonment for “assembly and collusion against national security” and a further year for “propaganda against the state.” The court also imposed a two-year travel ban and revoked her passport. Ms. Zeraatpisheh has prior experience of continual judicial harassment on account of her professional activities.

3. Parnian (Fatemeh) Hashempour

Parnian (Fatemeh) Hashempour holds a master’s degree in archaeology and was arrested in connection with the nationwide protests of December 2025 – January 2026. Following several days in solitary confinement, Ms. Hashempour was transferred to the women’s ward of Evin Prison on 31 December 2025. On 27 June, the Islamic Republic’s Appeals Court sentenced her to two years of imprisonment on the charge of assembly and collusion. (At the court of first instance, the Revolutionary Court had originally sentenced her to five years of imprisonment.) Ms. Hashempour was also previously arrested and convicted in 2022 on charges relating to her involvement in the nationwide “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests, before being released having served a term of detention.

4. Azadeh Saleki

Azadeh Saleki, a school teacher from the city of Khaf in Razavi Khorasan Province, northeastern Iran, was also arrested during the nationwide protests of December 2025 – January 2026 before being temporarily released a month later upon the posting of a 30-billion rial (three billion toman) bail. On 29 June, the Appeals Court in Razavi Khorasan Province sentenced her to five years of imprisonment.  (At the court of first instance, Ms. Saleki had originally been sentenced her to ten years of imprisonment.)  Due to her various activities and statements, Ms. Saleki had previously been suspended from work for one month in 2022 and subsequently forcibly transferred from Torbat-e Heydarieh to Khaf.

5. Negin Kiani

Negin Kiani, born in 1989, is a resident of Tehran and a social documentary photographer. She was arrested by security forces on 8 April 2026 at her family’s home in Babol, northern Iran, and was released on bail the following day. On 27 June, Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Babol sentenced her to one year of imprisonment on the charge of “propaganda against the state.” Ms. Kiani has a prior history of multiple summonses and judicial harassment merely on account of her peaceful civil activism.

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CODIR is appalled once more at the latest in an exhaustingly long line of vicious prosecutions mounted by the ruling theocratic regime in Iran against countless women merely on account of their peaceful and principled activism and courageous defiance in the face of brutal repression. We unequivocally condemn the death sentence handed to Ms. Arghavan Fallahi and call for its immediate rescinding as well as the ultimate abolition of the death penalty in Iran.

CODIR urgently appeals to all those campaigning for peace and justice to join the call for the release of these brave female activists. We call upon our supporters and fellow campaigners to write to the Iranian judicial authorities to denounce the cruel treatment of these women on account of their legitimate and peaceful activism as well as request that the convictions against them, along with the entailing harsh sentences, be quashed followed by their release from prison and harassment from the authorities in Iran thereafter. The sentence of execution imposed on Ms. Fallahi must be withdrawn and the call underlined for the end of the death penalty as well as the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Iran.

Please send your emails to:  

Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in London: iranemb.lon@mfa.gov.ir

Primary UN Domain Address: iran@un.int

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran: iranunny@mfa.gov.ir   

(Please forward on any email you send, as well as any response you receive, to codir_info@btinternet.com.)