IHRNGO Calls for Urgent International Action to Free Sharifeh Mohammadi

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, Sharifeh Mohammadi was sentenced to death for baghy charges by Branch One of the Rasht Revolutionary Court on 4th July, a day prior to the second round of the presidential elections in Iran.

Sharifeh is a 45-year-old workers’ rights activist from Mianeh in Eastern Azerbaijan who resided in Rasht. She was arrested on 5 December 2023 and held in solitary confinement and denied access to phone calls and visits. According to reports, she was subjected to severe psychological and physical torture to extract forced confessions.

Her relatives have said: “Sharifeh never took armed action and was sentenced to death solely for her peaceful activism in workers’ rights organisations. She was under physical and psychological torture throughout her detention.

Article 287 of the Islamic Penal Code defines members of any group that stages armed rebellion against the Islamic Republic of Iran as “baghy” (one who carries out baghy or armed rebellion), and that its members shall be sentenced to death on charges of baghy should they have used weapons. 

Rapper Toomaj Salehi was previously sentenced to death for baghy charges, which was later commuted to a prison term.