UN Calls for Iran to Halt Execution of Activist Zahra Tabari

Wed Dec 24 2025 05:59:16 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

UN experts and over 400 prominent women urge Iran to stop the execution of Zahra Tabari, a 67-year-old women's rights activist convicted without due process.

Zahra Tabari, a 67-year-old women's rights activist in Iran, faces execution after a contentious trial, leading to widespread calls from UN experts and global advocates for her release. The case highlights Iran's alarming rate of executions, especially among women. Critics argue her conviction was based on insufficient evidence and procedural violations, raising serious concerns about human rights.

UN experts and 400 prominent women have urged Iran not to execute Zahra Tabari, a 67-year-old electrical engineer and women's rights activist.

Ms. Tabari was arrested in April and accused of collaborating with a banned opposition group, the People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), according to her family.

In October, she was convicted of armed rebellion by a Revolutionary Court in Rasht after a trial via video link that lasted less than 10 minutes. Her family said the verdict was based on extremely limited and unreliable evidence: a piece of cloth bearing the words Woman, Resistance, Freedom, and an unpublished audio message.

Iranian authorities have not yet commented on the case.

At least 51 other people are known to be facing the death penalty in Iran after being convicted of national security offences including armed rebellion, as well as enmity against God, corruption on Earth and espionage, according to the UN experts.

The UN Human Rights Council's special rapporteurs on human rights in Iran, violence against women and arbitrary executions, have warned that Ms. Tabari's case shows a pattern of serious violations of international human rights law.

Her arrest during a raid on her home lacking a judicial warrant and her interrogation in solitary confinement bring further scrutiny. Critics argue that the evidence presented in her trial is insufficient to support her conviction.

More than 400 prominent women, including former heads of state, have signed a public appeal for Ms. Tabari's immediate release, underscoring the severity of the situation for women’s rights in Iran.

This case highlights the pressing issue of executions in Iran, which leads the world in terms of executions per capita for women. The organizations demanding justice for Tabari stress the importance of addressing gender discrimination and the consequences of criminalizing women’s activism.