Iran hands 30-year term to Kurdish woman activist spared death

Iran hands 30-year term to Kurdish woman activist once sentenced to death — A composite photo showing Sharifeh Mohammadi, a prominent Iranian labor rights Kurdish activist placed inside a jail cell. She is alleged to be a member of the Komala party. Photo: iKurd.net/X

TEHRAN,— Iran’s judiciary has reduced the death sentence of labor activist Sharifeh Mohammadi to a 30-year prison term after she was convicted of joining a banned Kurdish organization, her attorney said on Wednesday.

According to lawyer Amir Raisian, the decision was issued by the head of Iran’s judiciary. “By order of the honorable head of the judiciary, the death sentence of Ms. Sharifeh Mohammadi has been commuted to first-degree imprisonment, meaning 30 years,” Raisian wrote on X.

He added that efforts continue to have Mohammadi’s conviction overturned and her name cleared of rebellion charges.

Mohammadi, age 46, was sentenced to death in July 2024 along with fellow activists Pakhshan Azizi and Varisheh Moradi on charges of “baghi,” a term used for rebellion.

She was arrested in the northern city of Rasht, according to rights organizations.

Authorities accused her of belonging to the Komala party, a leftist group, (Komełey Şorrişgêrrî Zehmetkêşanî Kurdistanî Êran), a Kurdish group based in Iraqi Kurdistan (Bashur Kurdistan) that Tehran labels a separatist movement. I

ran’s Supreme Court overturned her initial death sentence in October 2024 and ordered a retrial.

Iranian officials have long accused Kurdish groups in Iraqi Kurdistan of fueling anti-government demonstrations that swept the country after the September 2022 death of Jina Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd detained for allegedly violating the country’s dress code for women.

The nationwide unrest left hundreds dead, including protesters and security personnel, according to rights monitors.

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran’s Kurdish population has faced ongoing restrictions and unequal treatment in social, economic, and political areas.

Kurdish communities in Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhelat Kurdistan) report barriers to employment, housing, and education, as well as limitations on naming children with Kurdish names.

Human rights groups estimate that more than 12 million Kurds live in Iranian Kurdistan, where many continue to experience marginalization and poverty.

(With files from AFP | Agencies)