Women Political Prisoners in Iran Face Execution, Torture, and Disappearance
18 May 2026
The women who inspired the global Woman, Life, Freedom movement are now facing execution, torture, disappearance, and death in prisons across Iran.
A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in Iran, and the world is beginning to look away.
Nearly every day, the regime in Iran carries out executions of political prisoners. Women’s rights activist Vrishe Moradi, already sentenced to death, has now received an additional six-month prison sentence simply for writing a letter commemorating the anniversary of the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising. In Evin Prison, eight female political prisoners were denied family visits after protesting death sentences issued against fellow prisoners.
At least 64 women political prisoners are reportedly under sentence of death in Iran today. Among them are Pakhshan Azizi and Vrishe Moradi, whose lives hang in immediate danger. Please see the full list below: https://wp.me/p9yWrK-egP
At the same time, imprisoned women activists are being systematically denied urgent medical treatment as a form of punishment and slow execution.
Among those at grave risk are:
- Narges Mohammadi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights defender
- Fatemeh Sepehri, human rights activist, serving 18-year prison sentence
- Zeynab Jalalian, imprisoned for 18 years without adequate medical care
All reportedly suffer from severe health conditions while being deliberately deprived of proper treatment.
Since the nationwide protests in late December 2025 and the brutal massacres carried out by the government in Iran in January 2026, repression has escalated dramatically. Thousands of protesters have reportedly been abducted by the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps). Survivors and families continue to report horrifying acts of torture, sexual violence, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings.
Many protesters arrested during the 2022 protests remain imprisoned today. Others have been rearrested simply for refusing to remain silent.
Now they face even harsher retaliation.
Internet shutdowns and communication blackouts imposed by the regime have made it increasingly difficult to document abuses or identify prisoners at risk. Many women sentenced to death remain unknown to the international public because their families fear persecution, arrest, or retaliation.
The silence surrounding these crimes is becoming deadly.
And yet, despite the scale of this crisis, global attention is fading.
Where are the voices that once stood beside the women of Iran?
Where are the defenders of Woman, Life, Freedom now that women political prisoners are being led to execution?
We Must Act Now
Governments, human rights organizations, journalists, activists, and all those who once supported the Woman, Life, Freedom movement must urgently renew international pressure on the regime in Iran.
We call on the international community to:
- Demand an immediate halt to all executions
- Demand the unconditional release of women political prisoners and all prisoners of conscience
- Pressure the regime in Iran to immediately restore internet and phone communications
- Amplify the names and stories of women political prisoners before they disappear in silence
The women imprisoned today are the very women who stood courageously in the streets in 2022 demanding freedom, dignity, and equality.
They must not be abandoned now.
Take Action Today
- Contact your Members of Parliament
- Write to your government and foreign minister
- Use your social media platforms to amplify the voices of women political prisoners in Iran
Every hour of silence places more lives in danger.
Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI)
🌐 www.cfppi.org
For Media Inquiries:
Shiva Mahbobi, Spokeswoman ,📧 shiva.mahbobi@gmail.com 📞 +44 7572 356666
We ask concerned individuals to please use the form on our website to send a letter to your government: