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A 23-year-old Iranian woman has been sentenced to death for blasphemy over a social media post, according to rights monitors, after she was arrested during nationwide anti-government protests earlier this year.
Najmeh Amini, an accounting student from Mashhad, said in an audio message from prison that the judiciary issued her death sentence on September 16, 2026. The sentence is not final and can be appealed before Iran’s Supreme Court.
Amini was arrested by security forces on January 31 during protests against Iran’s fundamentalist regime, which were met with a deadly crackdown. At least 7,000 were reported killed, while more than 50,000 people were arrested, per the Human Rights Activists News Agency.
According to Iran Human Rights Monitor, Amini suffered severe physical beatings during her arrest. She was subsequently held in isolation in the security ward of Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad for nearly three months.
She remained in administrative and judicial limbo for eight months, deprived of basic rights guaranteed to detainees, the rights monitor said.
CHARGES THAT SEALED AMINI’S FATE
Amini was produced before the Mashhad Revolutionary Court in August and faced several charges, including Moharebeh (enmity against God), Sab al-Nabi (insulting the Prophet), cooperation with a hostile state (Israel), insulting the Supreme Leader, and clashing with security and state personnel.
The charges of Moharebeh and Sab al-Nabi proved decisive, as both offences are punishable by death under Iran’s Islamic penal code.
Citing the Iranian newspaper Khorasan, UK's The Guardian reported that Amini told the court she had posted the remarks while hallucinating after taking psychedelic mushrooms with friends. Her defence argued that the remarks were a "slip of the tongue".
The presiding judge rejected the 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?"
In a separate case, Amini was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison.
Iran Human Rights Monitor said she was denied access to a lawyer of her choice throughout her detention and legal proceedings. She may also have been subjected to physical and psychological torture to extract confessions by force.
'REMEMBER MY NAME'
In an audio recording released from prison last month, Amini appealed for international intervention, urging the United Nations, 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."
"Remember my name; I may not be able to speak again. But as long as I am alive, I hold one hope: that before the rope marks the end of my life, I see my prosperous and free Iran."
Rights groups have warned that Iranian authorities are increasingly using capital punishment to instil fear and suppress dissent.
According to Oslo-based Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO), more than 600 executions have already been carried out in Iran this year.
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