Sharifeh Mohammadi at imminent risk of execution after court finalizes death sentence
Hengaw – Saturday, August 16, 2025
The death sentence of Sharifeh Mohammadi, a Turkish labor activist and political prisoner held in Lakan Prison, Rasht, has been upheld by the judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the Supreme Court has confirmed the death sentence against Mohammadi. Her lawyer, Amir Raeesian, stated in an interview: “Branch 39 of the Supreme Court, which had previously overturned the death sentence due to numerous flaws, has this time—despite those flaws remaining—upheld the Revolutionary Court’s ruling.”
Mohammadi was sentenced to death for a second time by Branch 2 of the Rasht Revolutionary Court. A year earlier, Branch 1 of the same court had also sentenced her to death.
The second death sentence was issued by Mohammad Ali Darvish Goftar, head of Branch 2 of the Rasht Revolutionary Court, who is the son of Ahmad Darvish Goftar, presiding judge of Branch 1 of the same court.
In October 2024, the Supreme Court had overturned the ruling on grounds including lack of evidence linking Mohammadi to armed operations, failure to prove membership in an insurgent group, and flaws in the security agency’s assessments, and had referred the case to another branch for retrial.
Hengaw previously reported, citing a copy of the ruling, that “the country’s intelligence organization is considered the sole authority for identifying members of alleged militant groups, and that all reports from the Gilan and Kurdistan provincial intelligence offices were attached to the case file, identifying the defendant as a member of Komala and the Coordination Committee.” This, Hengaw stated, is clear evidence of the judiciary’s lack of independence and of overt interference by security agencies in Iran’s judicial system.
The first hearing on Mohammadi’s charges was held on Saturday, June 8, 2024, in Branch 1 of the Rasht Revolutionary Court.
The labor activist had previously been subjected to psychological and physical pressure by interrogators from the Sanandaj Intelligence Office in an attempt to extract forced confessions.
Sharifeh Mohammadi was violently arrested at her home in Rasht by agents of the Intelligence Office on Tuesday, December 5, 2023. Since then, she has been held in the central prisons of Sanandaj and Rasht, as well as in detention centers operated by the Intelligence Office in both cities.
