Iran Sentences Taraneh And Romina Rahimi To Death And Prison, Family Appeals To UN

Twins appeal to UN

The family of Taraneh and Romina Rahimi, two 21-year-old Iranian twins sentenced respectively to death and decades in jail for protesting against the Iranian regime, appealed to the United Nations for help. British human right lawyers submitted a formal “submission of information” relating to the case of Taraneh and Romina Rahimi on the family’s behalf, and the move could lead to the UN’s human rights council opening talks with the Iranian regime about resolving the case if it is found to involve human rights violations. Masoud Pezeshkian told the UN’s general assembly in New York this week that Iran was “ready for dialogue and diplomacy,” while the twins were taken from their beds by men from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps eight months ago after they joined nationwide protests against the regime.

The twins were tried over charges that included moharebeh for taking to the streets of Isfahan, in central Iran, on 8 and 9 January, and at the end of August Taraneh was sentenced to death while Romina received a 25-year prison sentence. The women are being held in Dowlatabad prison in Isfahan, where the twins’ family claim that Taraneh was threatened with being forced to watch the rape of her sister if she failed to sign a confession to her alleged crimes.

Reporting for this sectionThe Guardian

No to Execution Tuesdays

Prisoners in Iran continued the “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign in its 139th week, expanding to 64 prisons across the country with the addition of Bandar Abbas and Someh Sara Ziabar prisons. The campaign statement described political and ideological prisoners going on hunger strike as reports indicated the continued issuance and implementation of inhumane death sentences in Iran, including the execution of a mother of six in Isfahan. The statement said a death sentence had been issued for Omidreza Heidari, a 19-year-old student from Izeh, and it cited the confirmation of death sentences of Mohammadreza Majidi Asl in Tehran and Omid Goodarzvand Chegini in Chubindar Prison of Qazvin.

The campaign also said the number of recorded executions since the beginning of the Iranian year 1405 (March 21, 2026) had reached at least 448, and it listed hunger strikes on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, in Evin Prison and Dastgerd Prison of Isfahan among other facilities. The statement framed the campaign as a symbol of prisoners’ protest against the death penalty and called for effective mechanisms to investigate and hold accountable those responsible for serious human rights violations in Iran.

Reporting for this sectionIran Human Rights Monitor

UN rally and execution claims

Thousands of anti-regime protesters gathered outside the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan on Tuesday to demand an end to Iran’s execution of political prisoners and to establish a free democracy in the country.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran organized the demonstration, and Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the organization, said she was angry that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was at the U.N. General Assembly.

Rajavi told the rally in a video call-in, “As long as this regime remains in power, repression, executions, terrorism, and warmongering will continue,” and she said, “The solution is regime change by the Iranian people and their organized resistance.”

The National Council of Resistance of Iran said Iran has hanged 56 people on national security charges since March, and it said more than 100 people are facing death sentences under the regime, the United Nations said.

Iran Human Rights Monitor’s campaign materials also pointed to the execution of Rezvan Asgharzadeh, a 45-year-old mother of six, who it said was brutally hanged in Dastgerd Prison in Isfahan on drug-related charges.

Reporting for this sectionNational Council of Resistance of Iran