warned in a joint statement<\/a> that Ms Tabari’s case showed “a pattern of serious violations of international human rights law”.<\/p>\nShe was arrested during a raid on her home without a judicial warrant, and was interrogated for a month while held in solitary confinement and pressured to confess to taking up arms against the state and to membership in an opposition group, according to the experts.<\/p>\n
Ms Tabari was denied access to a lawyer of her choosing and was represented by a court-appointed lawyer, they said, adding that her death sentence was issued immediately after a brief hearing.<\/p>\n
“The severe procedural violations in this case – including the unlawful deprivation of her liberty, the denial of effective legal representation, the extraordinarily brief trial, the lack of adequate time to prepare a defence, and the use of evidence that appears insufficient to support a charge of [armed rebellion] – render any resulting conviction unsafe,” they said.<\/p>\n
They also noted that international law restricted the death penalty to the most serious crimes, meaning intentional killing.<\/p>\n
“To execute Tabari under these circumstances would constitute arbitrary execution,” the experts added. “Criminalising women’s activism for gender equality and treating such expression as evidence of armed rebellion constitutes a grave form of gender discrimination.”<\/p>\n
More than 400 prominent women – including several Nobel laureates, the former presidents of Switzerland and Ecuador, and former prime ministers of Finland, Peru, Poland and Ukraine – also signed a public appeal for Ms Tabari’s immediate release on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
“Iran is today the world’s number one executioner of women per capita. Zahra’s case lays bare this terror: in Iran, daring to hold a sign declaring women’s resistance to oppression is now punishable by death,” it said.<\/p>\n
The appeal was organised by Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran, a UK-based group that represents the families of the thousands of political prisoners who were executed in Iran three decades ago.<\/p>\n
Another Iranian woman, Kurdish rights activist and social worker Pakhshan Azizi, is also facing the death penalty on the same charge as Ms Tabari.<\/p>\n
UN experts have previously said Ms Azizi’s sentencing appeared to be “solely related to her legitimate work as a social worker, including her support for refugees in Iraq and Syria”.<\/p>\n
According to Iran Human Rights (IHR), at least 1,426 people – including 41 women – were executed in Iran in the first 11 months of 2025 – a 70% increase on the same period last year.<\/p>\n
Almost half of those put to death as of the end of November were convicted of drug-related offences, while 53 were convicted of national security offences, the Norway-based group said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
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