Iranian Woman Sentenced to Death After 10-Minute Trial

by Roghayeh Rezaei

The evidence against Zahra Shahbaz Tabari consisted of a piece of fabric bearing the slogan “Women, Resistance, Freedom” and an audio recording stored on her phone that was never sent to anyone.

For that, according to documents obtained by IranWire, the 67-year-old retired electrical engineer has been sentenced to death.

Tabari was arrested on April 17 when five security agents forced their way into her home in northern Rasht without a warrant.

They ordered her and her daughter to sit with their hands on their knees while they confiscated phones, computers, tablets, and other electronic devices.

Then they took Tabari away.

Seven months later, after a 10-minute video conference trial plagued by audio problems, she was sentenced to death in Lakan Prison on charges of “armed rebellion through membership in the terrorist group Monafeqin” - the Islamic Republic’s term for the People’s Mojahedin Organization (MEK), an opposition group.

Her case is the latest example of Iran’s increasingly broad application of capital punishment against dissidents, particularly in the aftermath of the nationwide Woman, Life, Freedom protests that erupted in 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody.

Tabari spent more than three decades working as an electrical engineer and sustainable energy specialist for the Gilan Electricity Administration.

She earned her degree in electrical engineering from Isfahan University of Technology and a master’s in sustainable energy from Borås University in Sweden.

She retired two or three years ago. Tabari has two children: a daughter in her late 20s who lives in Iran and a 35-year-old son, Soroush Samak, who lives in Sweden.

This was not her first encounter with Iranian authorities. In May 2022, she was arrested and held in temporary detention for three months on charges of “propaganda against the Islamic Republic.”

She was released with an electronic ankle monitor, which she wore for a year while paying a fine.

The second arrest was far more severe.

“They knocked on the door and forced their way in, telling my sister and mother to sit in a corner with their hands on their knees,” Samak told IranWire.

“They searched the house, took mobile phones, computers, iPads, and all electronic devices, and arrested my mother.”

That night, Tabari managed a brief phone call to tell her family she was being held in Lakan Prison.

She spent a month in solitary confinement under interrogation before the 12-day war in June delayed her case proceedings.

The trial itself, held via video conference at Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court of Rasht, lasted only 10 minutes.

The presiding judge, Mohammad Ali Darvish Goftar, is the son of Ahmad Darvish Goftar, known as Gilan’s “death judge.”

In handwritten notes her son provided to IranWire, Tabari described severe technical problems during the hearing.

“In court, I faced sound disruption,” she wrote. “When I objected, I was connected to the court by a desk phone.

The judge asked only one question: ‘What is your final defense?’

I answered, but it wasn’t recorded correctly in the case. The whole thing took less than ten minutes before he issued a death sentence.”

According to her account, the death sentence was issued on October 4, three days before she even received the court documents to review.

When she finally got the case file on October 7, she wrote objections throughout, but the sentence had already been finalized at 9:20 that morning.

Samak said his mother had no appointed lawyer at the time of sentencing.

“They just casually held a ten-minute video conference trial,” he said. “They were laughing with each other in court and issued her a death sentence. This is the value of life under the Islamic Republic.”

The charges against Tabari rest on two pieces of evidence that her family and legal experts say fall far short of justifying capital punishment.

The first is the fabric bearing the slogan “Women, Resistance, Freedom” - a rallying cry from the 2022 protests.

Interrogators claimed she displayed it somewhere, though Tabari questioned whether the slogan itself was even anti-government and demanded evidence of when and where this allegedly occurred.

The second piece of evidence is an audio file on her phone.

“A voice message that was on my phone,” Tabari wrote. “It was recorded in a corner of the house and wasn’t sent anywhere. How can that be evidence of baghi and grounds for a death sentence?”

Baghi translates to “transgression,” “assault,” or “rebellion.” In Islamic jurisprudence, it refers to armed uprising against what the government deems a just authority.

Article 287 of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code defines baghi as occurring when “a group conducts an armed uprising against the foundation of the Islamic Republic of Iran system” and uses weapons, punishable by execution.

Legal experts note that baghi charges are subject to strict conditions under Iranian law.

The action must aim to overthrow the Islamic Republic system, must be carried out by a group in an organized manner, and requires the possession and intent to use weapons.

Mousa Barzin, a jurist and legal advisor to IranWire, called the charges against Tabari “baseless” and her death sentence “unjust and illegal.”

“Baghi means a group with weapons pours into the streets, takes over offices, and tries to overthrow the government through armed action,” Barzin said.

He added, "It must be asked that regardless of what level her cooperation with the Mojahedin organization was, in which armed operation was she arrested, or in which armed operation did she play a role, or was she behind the scenes?”

Tabari’s case fits a broader pattern of baghi charges leading to death sentences, especially since the 2022 protests.

Varisheh Moradi and Pakhshan Azizi, two Kurdish political prisoners in Evin Prison, were previously sentenced to death on the same charge by Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court under Judge Abolghasem Salavati.

In Rasht, death sentences on baghi charges were also issued for Sharifeh Mohammadi, a labor activist, and Peyman Farahavar, a poet and street vendor.

Mohammadi’s sentence was issued by Ahmad Darvish Goftar, the father of Tabari’s judge, while Farahavar’s came from Mohammad Ali Darvish Goftar himself.

Last week, lawyer Amir Raisiyan announced that Mohammadi’s sentence had been overturned and reduced to 30 years in prison.

Samak said his mother endured psychological torture during interrogations, including threats against her children.

“There was a lot of threat and intimidation,” he said. “They threatened us indirectly. They accused a 67-year-old retired woman of having weapons."

They told her they’d cause problems for her children if she didn’t confess. My sister still goes everywhere with my father.”

Although Tabari has no chronic illnesses or heart disease, her son said she has visibly deteriorated.

“My sister said she’s lost weight, her strength has decreased, and her face has become thinner,” Samak said.

The psychological toll has been even greater. After seven months, Samak finally spoke with his mother by phone last Friday.

“As soon as she heard my voice, she burst into tears,” he said.

Samak compared his mother’s plight to that of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Soviet-era dissident arrested for criticizing Joseph Stalin in a personal letter.

“When they came for me, I finally realized how bad things were,” Samak said, paraphrasing Solzhenitsyn.

“Now it’s the same with my mother. When they come for a 67-year-old woman who isn’t a political activist or member of any organization, you realize that all Iranians are in the execution queue and one day the noose will fall around all our necks.”

He added that his mother is not a member of the People’s Mojahedin Organization and condemned any attempt by political groups to exploit her case.

“If the Mojahedin wants to take advantage of this case and use my mother’s name, we condemn it,” he said. “My mother is a victim of political collusion.”

“She is a 67-year-old retired woman. The evidence, charges, and documents presented against her are insufficient and inadequate to make such charges and issue such a sentence.”

Barzin, the legal expert, agreed.

“From experience, we know that individuals in these cases are often victims of scenario-making and case fabrication by security agencies,” he said.

As Tabari awaits her fate in Lakan Prison, her son’s words underscore the human cost of Iran’s judicial system.

“My mother is one drop in this sea of blood that the Islamic Republic has created,” Samak said.