Global Call to Save Iranian Activist Zahra Tabari Amidst Execution Threat

Fri Dec 26 2025 04:56:00 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

UN experts and over 400 prominent women urge Iran to halt the execution of Zahra Tabari, a 67-year-old women's rights activist accused of armed rebellion after a controversial trial.

Zahra Tabari, a 67-year-old women's rights activist in Iran, faces execution after being accused of collaborating with a banned opposition group. UN experts have criticized her trial's conduct, lacking adequate legal representation and allegedly based on insufficient evidence. Prominent women worldwide have signed an appeal for her release, emphasizing that her case highlights serious human rights violations and gender discrimination.

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on extremely limited and unreliable evidence: a piece of cloth bearing the words 'Woman, Resistance, Freedom', and an unpublished audio message.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 warned that Ms. Tabari's case showed 'a pattern of serious violations of international human rights law'.

She was arrested during a raid on her home without a judicial warrant and was interrogated for a month while held in solitary confinement. The experts noted severe procedural violations in her case and stated the evidence against her appears insufficient to support the charge of armed rebellion.

More than 400 prominent women, including several Nobel laureates and former heads of state, have signed a public appeal for Ms. Tabari's immediate release. The case highlights the alarming trend of executions related to women's rights activism in Iran.
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, marking a 70% increase from the previous year.