Iran sentences a 23-year-old student to death over a social media post
A court in Iran has sentenced Najmeh Amini, a 23-year-old accounting student from Mashhad, to death over a social media post. The charge is "sabb al-nabi", insulting the Prophet, which carries the death penalty under Iranian law. Amini is held in Vakilabad prison in Mashhad. The sentence is not final: it can still be reviewed by Iran's Supreme Court. Rights groups say death sentences for blasphemy are rare in Iran and warn that this case could extend the death penalty to what people write online.
How the case started
Amini was first detained during the nationwide anti-government protests in January. She was reportedly arrested again in February, after Iran's cyber police had been monitoring her activity online. The Mashhad daily Khorasan reported on the trial.
In court, Amini said she wrote the post after taking hallucinogenic mushrooms with friends. Her lawyer called it "a slip of the tongue". This matters legally: Iran's penal code makes exceptions for words said while intoxicated, in anger or by a slip of the tongue. The court rejected the defence. According to Khorasan, the judge asked why she had not insulted America or Israel while under the influence, and how she had been clear-headed enough to choose which social network to post on.
In a separate case, a court sentenced her to 12 years and six months in prison for acting against national security and spreading propaganda against the state. Reports differ on some details. Khorasan says the death sentence came from a criminal court, while the US-based rights agency HRANA, quoted by Iran International, describes a Revolutionary Court and charges that include "insulting sacred figures". In an audio message from prison, Amini said she was sentenced to death on 16 September. "I am an innocent young girl with so many hopes and dreams. Be my voice," she said.
Why rights groups are alarmed
"Sentencing a 23-year-old woman to death for what she expressed on social media is an extremely alarming development," said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights. He noted that two men, Yousef Mehrdad and Sadrollah Fazeli, were executed for blasphemy in May 2023, but said this case "risks expanding the use of the death penalty against peaceful online expression". By the group's count, Iran has carried out more than 600 executions so far this year. It is calling for the sentence to be overturned and for a moratorium on executions.
The case fits a wider pattern. Since the January protests, during which the authorities cut the country off from the internet, rights groups have been warning of an ever tighter crackdown on free expression.
