IRAN: A Mother’s Life on Death Row — Her Baby Knows Only Prison Wall— The World Must Act Now!
14 October 2025
Imagine holding your child in a prison cell — knowing that you and your husband could be executed at any moment, and that you may never see your children grow up.
This is the devastating reality for Nasimeh Eslam-Zahi, a mother of two from Balouchestan, and her husband Arsalan Shekhi from Kurdistan, both imprisoned in Iran.
Nasimeh was arrested in September 2023 while pregnant. Seven months later, she gave birth to her daughter, Tasnim. Both mother and baby have been kept behind bars ever since, enduring horrific and inhumane conditions. Her four-year-old daughter, Aisha, was only 18 months old at the time of her mother’s arrest. Aisha was arrested with her mother and later was forcibly separated from her.
According to official news agencies of the Islamic regime in Iran, in October 2025, Nasimeh and her husband, both members of ethnic minority communities, were sentenced to death on fabricated charges of “Moharebeh” (“waging war against God”) in a joint case.
But Nasimeh is not alone.
Women’s rights defenders Vrishe Moradi, Pakhshan Azizi, and Sharifeh Mohammadi, a well-known labour activist, have also been sentenced to death and now face imminent execution.
⚠️ A Widening Crackdown Amid Global Silence
Following the 12-day conflict between the regime in Iran and Israel in June 2025, Iran’s authorities have intensified their repression. Taking advantage of global distraction, the regime has targeted civilians, especially from ethnic minorities, on false charges of “collaboration with Israel,” which carries the death penalty.
On 4 October 2025, seven political prisoners from Khuzestan and Kurdistan were executed on fabricated charges.
According to Amnesty International, the regime in Iran has executed more than 1,000 prisoners in the first nine months of 2025 alone, the highest number in over 15 years. Many executions remain unreported, as families are threatened into silence.
The World Must Not Look Away
Despite this unprecedented wave of executions, arrests, and torture, governments in the EU and the US have failed to take meaningful action to pressure the regime in Iran to stop its killings and release political prisoners.
The horrific plight of political prisoners and the alarming surge in executions are barely covered by international media, a silence that is both shocking and unacceptable.
This silence is deadly.
The Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI) expresses its deep outrage at the inaction of world governments, whose silence has emboldened the regime to arrest, torture, and execute even more people, driven by its fear of another nationwide uprising like the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement of 2022.
🌍 A Call to Humanity
The lives of Nasimeh, Pakhshan, Sharifeh, Vrishe, and thousands of other prisoners are hanging by a thread.
Their only “crime” is demanding dignity, equality, and freedom, values that belong to all humanity.
We urgently call on citizens, journalists, rights defenders, labour unions and human rights organizations worldwide to raise their voices now:
- Share their names. Be their voice.
- Write to your Members of Parliament and government representatives.
- Demand an immediate halt to executions in Iran.
- Demand the release of all political prisoners.
The world cannot remain silent as mothers, activists, and innocent people are led to the gallows.
Act now — before it is too late.
For more information and Media Inquiries:
Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI)
www.cfppi.org
Shiva Mahbobi, Spokeswoman
📧 shiva.mahbobi@gmail.com 📞 +44 7572 356666
Reports and Updates:
- Weekly update of political prisoners sentenced to execution or at risk: tinyurl.com/38fxs9xe
- Weekly update of list of political prisoners in Iran sentenced to execution or in danger of being given death sentence : tinyurl.com/38fxs9xe
- Latest report: http://wp.me/p9yWrK-dG2
- Monthly CFPPI Newsletter: https://cfppi.org/montly-publication-of-cfppi/