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Sharifeh Mohammadi is to die on the gallows for campaigning for workers‘ and women’s rights and against the death penalty.
Since the violent death of Jina Masha Amini in September 2022, the protests against the Iranian mullah regime have continued unabated. What is little known in Germany is that the trade unions and many workforces are also part of this resistance movement. A report by the human rights organisation Center for Human Rights in Iran reported strikes in more than 115 companies in the oil and gas industry against unpaid work and dangerous working conditions in July alone. There were demonstrations in at least 14 cities against the drastic rise in the cost of living, against the incomplete payment of pensions and for living wages. All these actions are taking place despite strikers and demonstrators risking dismissal, imprisonment and worse!
One of the victims of the brutal state repression is Sharifeh Mohammadi, a well-known trade unionist in Iran. She is 45 years old, an engineer by profession and the mother of a 12-year-old son. She has campaigned for the rights of women and workers, including as part of a „Coordination Committee for the Formation of Workers‘ Organisations in Iran“. She was arrested on 5 December 2023 by members of the Iranian secret service on charges of „propaganda against the system“, tortured and abused several times. They wanted to force her to confess. Amnesty International writes about the trial: „It consisted of a 30-minute hearing that took place on 9 June 2024 and in no way met international fair trial standards. She was connected via video conference from prison and was not allowed to speak. The judgement cites her peaceful human rights activities as ‚evidence‘ against her, including her possession of documents expressing support for women prisoners and her campaigning against the death penalty (…).
The death sentence was handed down at the end of June, after a judicial farce lasting half an hour! It is one in a series of draconian judgements with which the mullah regime wants to break the fight for democracy and human dignity. 853 death sentences were carried out in Iran last year. In the first half of 2024 there were 400, 81 in August alone. The executions are sometimes carried out in public places on construction cranes…“
Immediately after the terrible judgement against Sharifeh became known, there was resistance in Iran, as Human Rights Watch reports. Esmail Abdi, a leading member of the Iranian teachers‘ union and himself imprisoned for years, said: „Almost all committed labour and human rights activists, intellectuals, writers, trade unions and grassroots initiatives have protested against the trumped-up charges and the unjust sentence imposed on Sharifeh Mohammadi. This broad support underlines her credibility. She must be released immediately and unconditionally.“ Calls for the judgement to be overturned have even been made from within the prisons, for example by members of the Tehran Bus Drivers‘ Union and a group of female prisoners in Evin Prison, which is notorious for its torture practices. They warned that the guilty verdict against Sharifeh „could be a precursor to further severe judgements against other opponents of the Islamic Republic.“
The mullahs want to stay in power through terror and judicial murder. The arbitrary death penalty against Sharifeh Mohammadi is intended to affect all Iranian workers, young people and women. Sharifeh needs our solidarity! It also means solidarity with all political prisoners in Iran and all those who are fighting for freedom and human rights there.
Amnesty International
is organising an online petition to the Iranian embassy, which we ask you to support and spread!
For the immediate cancellation of the death sentence against Sharifeh Mohammadi and her immediate release: https://www.amnesty.de/mitmachen/urgent-action/iran-drohende-hinrichtung-2024-09-10
