Death Sentence of ‘Sharifa Mohammadi’ Condemned by Prisoners and Human Rights Watchdog

Human rights watchdog and political prisoners condemned the death sentence handed down against ‘Sharifa Mohammadi’.

Human rights watchdog and four political prisoners issued separate letters from Evin Prison, condemning the death sentence for Sharifa Mohammadi. The human rights watchdog, while referencing the convictions of ‘Pakshan Azizi’, ‘Varisha Moradi’, ‘Zhina Modares-Gorji’ and women’s rights activists in Gilan, stated: “Iranian authorities increasingly suppress women, religious and ethnic minorities.”

The human rights watchdog also published a statement on the current day (July 18), writing: “Iran’s Revolutionary Court has sentenced Sharifa Mohammadi, a labor rights activist, to death on the charge of ‘moharebeh’ (waging war against God), claiming she is a member of an opposition group (Komala), despite the fact that she was a member of labor organizations until 2013.”

In addition to the human rights watchdog, ‘Isa Choolandam’ and ‘Jamshid Azizi’ from Lakan Prison in Rasht, and ‘Nahid Khodajoo’ and ‘Nasrin Javadi’, political prisoners held in Evin Prison, condemned the death sentence against Sharifa Mohammadi by writing separate letters. In the letter from the political prisoners Isa and Jamshid, it states: “Once again, the Islamic Republic is searching for a neck for its gallows, seeking to consign the rainbow of life of the brave youth of this land to the abyss of its own illegitimacy.”

Nahid Khodajoo, in her own letter, while noting that Sharifa Mohammadi has been sentenced to death by the non-independent judiciary under the pretext of her membership in the Coordination Committee for Assisting the Formation of Labor Organizations, under the guise of affiliation with Komala, emphasized that such file-building practices over the past 46 years have been among the repetitive scenarios of the authorities to suppress labor activists and attribute them to political movements and parties in order to justify such heavy and incredible charges.

Nahid Khodajoo also addressed the judicial authorities, writing: “You must know that society has reached such a level of awareness that it not only rejects death sentences for political charges, but under no circumstances and for no human being accepts and condemns them.”

‘Nahid Naqshbandi’, Head of Research at Iran’s Human Rights Watch, also commented on the death sentence issued for Sharifa Mohammadi: “Iranian authorities not only continuously target women activists, but ethnic and religious minorities face even greater suppression and attacks. If Pezeshkian, the new president, wants to show that he represents real change, he must start by halting this ongoing suppression, including death sentences.”