Iran court reissues death sentence for labor activist
A court in the northern Iranian city of Rasht, has reissued a death sentence for labor activist Sharifeh Mohammadi, her supporters announced Thursday citing her lawyers.
The Campaign to Defend Sharifeh Mohammadi, supported by her family, said Branch 2 of Rasht's Revolutionary Court reinstated the sentence after Iran’s Supreme Court overturned her initial conviction. The case had then referred to another branch for retrial, the group said in a statement on X.
"Mohammad Ali Darvish Goftar, head of Branch 2 of the Rasht Revolutionary Court, upheld the ruling. He is the son of Ahmad Darvish Goftar, the judge of Branch 1, who had issued the original death sentence," the group said.
Last July, Mohammadi was sentenced to death by Branch 1 of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court in Rasht, under Judge Ahmad Darvish Goftar. She was convicted on charges of armed rebellion due to her alleged membership in the national Labor Unions Assistance Coordination Committee (LUACC), which operates legally in Iran, and the banned Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan.
In October her lawyers said the Supreme Court had overturned the verdict and referred the case to another branch for retrial.
"LUACC is an independent labor organization with no ties to any political group. Issuing death sentences is an act of war against women and retaliation against labor and social activists," the group added.
Earlier this month, Iran’s Supreme Court rejected a motion for a retrial in the case of another Kurdish political prisoner and humanitarian worker on death row, sparking fears among rights groups that her execution is imminent.
The mother of a protester who was killed during Iran's widespread 2022 protests now faces trial over alleged hijab violations and her advocacy efforts for her son, her family announced.
Mina Soltani has been ordered to appear before Branch 101 of Bukan’s Criminal Court on Saturday to face charges of propaganda against the Islamic Republic and appearing in public without mandatory hijab, her daughter Asrin Mohammadi announced in a post on Instagram.
"In the month when the Islamic Republic celebrates its revolution, a mother seeking justice is put on trial while the killers walk free," Asrin Mohammadi added condemning the summons.
Shahryar Mohammadi was shot by Iran’s security forces in Bukan in northwestern Iran on November 18, 2022. He later died from his injuries after being transferred to a local hospital.
His family including his mother, Mina Soltani, his sister Asrin Mohammadi and brother Milad Mohammadi have since become outspoken advocates for justice and have faced pressure from the Iranian authorities.
Soltani was arrested last September as part of a broader crackdown on activists and victims' families just days before the anniversary of the death in morality police custody of a young woman named Mahsa Amini, igniting the Women, Life, Freedom uprising. She was later released on bail.
This is not the first time the Mohammadi family has been targeted by Iranian authorities. In November 2023, just a few days before the anniversary of Shahryar’s death, his sister, Asrin Mohammadi, was arrested during a raid. She was later released on bail.
The Iranian makers of My Favorite Cake, a critically-acclaimed film about a widow's search for companionship, have been summoned to a revolutionary court in Tehran over multiple charges including violation of public morality and ethics.
The film tells the story of a woman striving to live out her desires, including for intimacy, in a country where women's rights are heavily restricted.
Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha have been summoned to Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, according to separate summonses they shared on Instagram, and are set to stand trial on March 1.
Moghaddam and Sanaeeha have been charged with propaganda against the Islamic Republic, producing, distributing and screening a film with obscene content, violating public morality and ethics and screening a film without a proper exhibition license.
The indictment cites their roles as producers, writers and directors of My Favorite Cake, accusing them of attempting to screen, distribute, and reproduce the film, which authorities say constitutes grounds for legal action.
The couple had previously been barred from attending their film's premiere at the Berlin Film Festival last February. They were set to attend the Swedish premiere in September when they found out that they cannot leave.
British newspaper The Guardian's named My Favorite Cake 2024's second-best film.
At Berlin Film Festival, the film won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury Competition and the FIPRESCI Prize. It also won the Chicago Film Festival's Silver Hugo for in the New Directors Competition.
The film is just one of an increasing number of new Iranian films being produced without the Culture Ministry's permission in defiance of the country's strict ideological censorship and hijab regulations for actresses.
Many filmmakers are bypassing regulations requiring them to obtain approval at various stages of production, from screenplay inception to final screening and entry into international film festivals.
These new independent films challenge compulsory hijab rules, depicting Iranian women without the mandated head covering. This defiance has grown, especially following the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protest movement.
A child trafficking ring based in the religious city of Mashhad has been busted by security forces, according to an online news outlet, resulting in several arrests and raising alarm about the prevalence of similar abuses elsewhere.
Investigators have connected two middle-aged sisters to the operation, which is thought to involve the unlawful sale of infants procured from impoverished or drug-dependent families who are distributed to those unable to conceive.
Child trafficking in Iran, although relatively infrequent, may point to deepening poverty and a fraying social safety net.
As reported by Rouydad 24 website, the discovery of the case occurred after informants supplied police information regarding the network's operations, culminating in the arrest of a person in Mashhad who had purchased a one-year-old girl.
The child's mother, a 23-year-old woman struggling with addiction, was also detained. She explained to the authorities that her decision to sell her daughter came from a place of desperation.
"My husband is a homeless addict, and I don’t know where he is. I wasn’t in a good state," she was quoted as saying. "I went to a woman’s house, and she, acting as an intermediary, sold my daughter to another woman. They gave me 600 million rials (about $650)."
After reconsidering, the mother attempted to reclaim her child but was met with threats from the buyer, who demanded 800 million rials (about $850).
Further investigation linked the ringleader, one of the arrested sisters, to similar trafficking schemes in other cities across the country. She said she purchased the child from the addicted mother for 600 million rials and sold the girl to a childless woman who had undergone multiple failed treatments.
While local authorities have arrested several suspects, authorities believe the trafficking ring may be part of a larger network operating throughout the country, triggering a broader investigation into the sale of babies in other cities.
The case adds to a growing body of evidence pointing to the abuse of vulnerable families, in particular those living with poverty and addiction.
Iranian refugees in Turkey are facing expulsion to parts unknown or a dreaded extradition back to Iran as rules around their presence changed after the United Nations handed over asylum responsibilities to Ankara.
Nahid Modarresi, an undocumented Iranian refugee who lives in hiding from Turkish authorities, is one among the tens of thousands of Iranian asylum-seekers whose fate hangs in the balance.
“I hide myself because I am too afraid to go outside," Nahid told Iran International.
Protected person status, a legal term under international law offering protection if host governments are unable, was granted to Nahid in 2018 by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The Turkish Supreme Court recently revoked it, throwing her life into disarray.
Though there are no official statistics, at least 3,000 Iranians who once had been granted protected persons status have had it revoked by Ankara, a Turkey-based Iranian researcher who works with asylum seekers told Iran International, declining to be identified for safety reasons.
Nahid says she fled Iran in 2018 over her sexual orientation and has since publicly engaged in human rights activities aimed against the country's Islamic authorities.
“My life is in danger,” said Nahid. “If I get sent back to Iran, they will arrest me and maybe execute me.”
Homosexuality in Iran is punishable by death for men and by 100 lashes for women. On repeated offenses, women can be also executed.
Nahid gained prominence in the human rights community for public campaigning after her sister Elham Modarresi was imprisoned for taking part in the Woman, Life, Freedom protest movement that rocked Iran in 2022.
Elham was taken by security forces from the home she shared with her family to Kachooie Prison outside Tehran in 2022 and was tortured and denied medication for a genetic liver condition, she and Nahid told Iran International.
In 2023, Elham was released on bail and managed to escape to her sister in Turkey.
Elham and her sister Nahid Modaressi.
Nahid advocated to help move her sister to Canada where she successfully had a liver transplant that helped save her life, but Nahid herself was left behind.
"I am very worried for my sister. I am so scared for her," Elham told Iran International.
Iranian refugees vulnerable in Turkey
Now faced with the revocation of her protected persons status, Nahid is speaking out and making a plea for herself and all Iranian refugees.
“It’s not just me and my situation. It's all political fighters from Iran. We fight the Islamic Republic,” said Nahid.
Nahid’s legal counselor in Ontario Hooshang Lotfi has filed an application to bring her to Canada and found five people willing to sponsor her. Pleading her case to Canadian authorities, Lotfi says Nahid's time is running out.
UNHCR's departure
In September 2018, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) ended registration and refugee status determination procedures in Turkey in what it described as a response to Ankara's improvement of its immigrant population registry and refugee status determination process.
The UNHCR's departure followed by a European Union-Turkey migration agreement has put Iranian refugees in a precarious position, said Behnam Daraeizadeh, a senior fellow at the Canada-based Centre for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).
“It is a big challenge and unfortunately has led to more deportations for the individuals who have already been accepted by the UN."
Since the change, organizations like CHRI have reported that Turkish authorities stepped up efforts to detain and deport unregistered migrants.
“These activists face arbitrary detention, possible torture, sham convictions on national security charges, and years of prison if they are extradited back to Iran,” said CHRI Executive Director Hadi Ghaemi.
Sina Rostami, a 35-year-old Iranian in exile in Turkey described to Iran International the horrors of what he has faced for months at a Turkish deportation camp.
“The way they treat us here is like we’re not humans,” said Sina, a Woman, Life, Freedom protestor who faces deportation to Iran. Sina’s sleeping quarters that he shares with six people and the washrooms have no lights. Sina said he often has to wait 12 to 14 hours before he is permitted recreation outdoors.
The Turkish government has not responded to Iran International's request for comment on these allegations.
A hub for refugees
Turkey is the world's leading host of refugees and is a middle ground between conflict zones and Western countries where migrants seek better lives.
Daraeizadeh said the Turkish government lobbied the UN so it could have more control over asylum seekers in a setback to the asylum-seekers.
Since Iran provided political support to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after a failed coup in 2016, many activists argue Turkey is not keen on sheltering Iranians political asylum seekers.
Despite the risks, Iranians continue to flee their homeland as security forces keep up a crackdown on dissidents.
Activists and families of political prisoners on death row staged a protest outside Tehran's Evin Prison on Tuesday, calling for the abolition of capital punishment in Iran.
The demonstration began early in the morning and was attended by former political prisoners and human rights activists, including filmmaker Jafar Panahi and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi who appeared without wearing the mandatory hijab in defiance of the country's strict dress laws.
Protesters held placards reading "No to execution," "Immediate repeal of death sentences," and "Political prisoners must be freed."
Participants displayed images of political prisoners sentenced to death, demanding the cancellation of their executions and their unconditional release.
On Monday, France-based rights group Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) reported that a protestor detained during Iran's Woman Life Freedom uprising, sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini over an alleged hijab law violation, was sentenced to death.
Last month, US-based rights group HRANA, at least 54 political prisoners are currently facing execution across various prisons in Iran.
Iran has faced increasing international criticism for its widespread use of the death penalty, especially against political prisoners and activists.
The United Nations human rights office reported in January that Iran in 2024 executed 901 people, including 31 women, marking record highs.
