Iran’s wretched judicial system was in the spotlight again today as it emerged a 67-year-old woman political dissident was facing the hangman’s noose the same week action against a male serial rapist dubbed “Devil of Tehran” was scrapped.
Zahra Tabari was sentenced to death after a “trial” lasting 10 minutes. She was neither allowed to attend the proceedings nor appoint a lawyer of her choice. She is now on death row in the regime’s Lakan Prison in Rasht.
By contrast, only days ago, to the horror of nine female rape victims, the same Iranian legal system overturned two death sentences faced by the so-called “Devil of Tehran” for prowling the city’s streets with a knife and pepper spray.
The man, known only as Khalil, was initially handed two death sentences – but the sentence was commuted to 100 lashes and deportation to Afghanistan.
Ms Tabari is a political prisoner, accused of co-operating with the anti-Government People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). There are 16 other political dissidents who are on death row on the same charges of Ms Tabari.
Iran is expected to kill more of its citizens than any other country in the world this year. State hangings have soared in the aftermath of Israel’s successful attacks on the country and its hated Ayatollah-led theocracy.
In September alone, more than 200 executions were recorded—the highest monthly total in 36 years. This figure is approximately 2.5 times higher than in September 2024 (84 executions) and seven times higher than in September 2023 (29 executions).
The number of executions in the first nine months of 2025 reached at least 1,300, compared to 1,001 executions in all of 2024.
In recent weeks, young Iranians have bravely taken to the streets, risking torture and death at the hands of the murderous Revolutionary Guard (IRGC).
This weekend, the Iranian Youth Congress, held simultaneously in London, Paris, Bonn, and Zurich brought together young Iranians from across the globe, both in person and online, to voice their support for the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
The participants in the first congress of its kind, “Free Iran 2025, Youth Congress”, endorsed the NCRI’s Ten-Point Plan to shift Iran from dictatorship to democracy, in which gender equality is paramount.
Keynote speaker NCRI President-elect, Maryam Rajavi said: “Now it is Iranian society that has risen up against the regime’s policy of execution.
“The strike by 1,500 death row prisoners was the resolute cry of a people pushed to the brink, who do not want this criminal regime.
“Today, more than ever before, we are closer to the overthrow of the clerical regime.”
“The most important indicator of democracy in tomorrow’s free Iran is the role that women and youth must have,” she added.
According to Mahan Taraj, a female lawyer, representing the Iranian Lawyers’ Association in the congress: “The key issue for Iran’s future is law and justice. We must write a new constitution where justice is the pillar of freedom, not a tool of oppression. The free Iran of tomorrow will be neither monarchist nor religious, but a republic based on the rule of law. Mrs. Rajavi’s ten-point plan is the true charter for the rule of law in Iran’s future with abolition of the death penalty, separation of religion and state, and absolute independence of the judiciary.”