Iranian woman handed death sentence for ‘blasphemy’ in social media post

Human rights groups have raised the alarm over the growing number of death sentences and executions in Iran, after reports that a 23-year-old woman, Najmeh Amini, has been sentenced to death for blasphemy over a social-media post.

Amini, an accounting student, is being held in Vakilabad prison in the north-east city of Mashhad. She has been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison and death in separate cases heard by a revolutionary and a criminal court.

A source close to Amini’s family told the US-based Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI) that Amini was sentenced to death on charges of “sab ol-nabi” (insulting the prophet). She was reportedly arrested following online monitoring by Iran’s Cyber Police (Fata). The exact content of her posts has not been publicly disclosed.

In the second case, Amini was sentenced to 12 years, six months and one day on charges including acting against national security and spreading propaganda against the regime.

Amini was arrested by security forces during January’s nationwide protests, which were suppressed with a deadly crackdown. Thousands were reported killed, while the HRAI news agency, Hrana, said more than 50,000 people were arrested.

In an audio recording released last month and attributed to Amini, she appealed for international intervention, calling on the UN, lawyers and rights groups to investigate her case.

“I do not want to make a hero out of myself today. I only want one thing: be my voice,” she said.

“I am an innocent young girl with so many hopes and dreams,” Amini said. “I have parents who are waiting for me. A family that every night, with the fear of losing me, turns their night into morning.”

Rights groups warn that the Iranian authorities are increasingly using capital punishment to instil fear and suppress dissent. According to the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO), more than 600 executions have already been carried out this year.

Iranians block a Tehran street during nationwide protests in January, which were sparked by the weak economy but became political and anti-regime. Photograph: Mahsa/Middle East Images/AFP

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of IHRNGO, said Amini’s case should be seen as a serious warning.

“Sentencing a young woman to death for what she posted on social media risks normalising the use of the death penalty against peaceful expression and pushing the boundaries of the death penalty even further,” he said.

Amiry-Moghaddam added that the Iranian authorities were testing the international community’s “tolerance” towards capital punishment. “If the international community does not respond firmly now, cases like this could become far more common,” he said.

Under article 262 of Iran’s Islamic penal code, insulting the prophet Muhammad or revered Shia figures is punishable by death. However, article 263 provides exemptions for statements made while intoxicated or without deliberate intent, although offenders may still face up to 74 lashes in certain circumstances.

According to the Iranian newspaper Khorasan, which confirmed the judicial proceedings, Amini told the court she had posted the remarks while hallucinating after taking psychedelic mushrooms with friends and her defence argued it was a “slip of the tongue”.

The presiding judge rejected her defence, reportedly asking: “Why, in that same hallucinatory state, did you not insult other individuals or opponents of the regime, such as America and Israel?”

Amini’s death sentence is not final and remains subject to appeal before Iran’s supreme court.

The student’s sentencing comes at a time when Iranian lawmakers are seeking to criminalise contact with all foreign media, including posts on social media deemed to be financed by another country.

Elnaz*, 24, who took part in the protests in Tehran in January and was arrested over social-media posts at the height of the war in March, said she lived in constant fear of surveillance.

“I was arrested even though my social-media account was private. So it’s not just the regime’s cyber-police we have to worry about. There’s also this constant mistrust, this feeling that someone is watching me all the time, even when I’m alone in my room.

“I’m scared to post anything on social media … but after everything they’ve put us through, do we really have anything left to lose? They can kill us even if we don’t post anything on social media.”

Although executions in Iran have surged in recent years, reaching their highest level in three decades, death sentences for blasphemy remain relatively rare. The last documented case was on 8 May 2023, when Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli-Zare were executed after being convicted of blasphemy-related offences tied to social-media activity.

* Name has been changed to protect her identity