UN experts and a group of about 400 influential women from around the world have called on Iran not to execute women's rights activist Zahra Shahbaz Tabari, the BBC reported on Wednesday.
Tabari, a 67-year-old electrical engineer, was arrested in April under accusations of collaborating with the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), a banned Iranian opposition group.
Tabari was convicted by a Revolutionary Court in Rasht in October under the premise of baghi (armed rebellion against the foundations of the Islamic Republic of Iran) in an online trial that lasted less than ten minutes.
According to Tabari's family, the verdict was based on a piece of cloth containing the words "Woman, Resistance, Freedom," and an unpublished audio message.
As a consequence of her conviction, Tabari was sentenced to death, as the Iranian authorities alleged she would have been planning to use the cloth as a public banner to challenge the state, the UN stated.
Tabari was arrested without a judicial warrant and interrogated for a month while facing solitary confinement. During her time in confinement, the activist was put under pressure to confess that she would have taken up arms against the State and that she had a membership in an opposition group.
Women's activist faces death sentence without lawful minimum rights
The activist is currently detained in Lakan Prison in Rasht and, according to a UN expert group, her case "shows a pattern of serious violations of international human rights law regarding fair trial guarantees and the inappropriate use of capital punishment for broad and ill-defined national security offences.”
According to UN experts, Tabari had no access to a lawyer of her choice and was represented by a court-appointed lawyer. Her death sentence was immediately officialized after the 10-minute hearing.
“Criminalizing women's activism for gender equality and treating such expression as evidence of armed rebellion constitutes a grave form of gender discrimination,” UN experts highlighted.
Tabari's case is one of at least 52 other cases of individuals currently facing the death penalty due to supposed national security offenses, including baghi, moharebeh (waging war against God), corruption on earth, and espionage, the UN reported.
Among the more than 400 influential women urging Iran to halt Tabari's execution are four Nobel laureates and several former heads of state. The group shared a public appeal under a letter, organized by a London-based association of families of victims called Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran, France 24 reported.
Some of the most high-profile members of the group responsible for the letter include Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, Republican US Congresswoman Nancy Mace of South Carolina, and Samantha Power, the former US ambassador to the UN, Iran International reported.
“Zahra's case lays bare this terror: in Iran, daring to hold a sign declaring women's resistance to oppression is now punishable by death,” their letter said.