“Iranian feminists and their fight against death penalty”

Hello every one,
My name is Mansoureh Behkish. I am an Iranian feminist and leftist who has spent nearly half a century fighting for freedom, equality, truth, and justice in Iran. I have a well-known history of activism, imprisonment, and persecution by the Iranian state, up until 7.5 years ago when I was in Iran, and even now, while I am active in exile.

Between 1981 and 1988, five of my siblings (one sister and four brothers) and my brother-in-law were murdered for their belief in socialism by the Iranian regime. I would like to take this opportunity to highlight the current primary demand of Iranian feminist activists, which is the campaign against the death penalty.

Discrimination and injustice in Iran go beyond targeting people with different beliefs or religions. The regime is also at war with half the population–women–attempting to impose strict Islamic rules. Women were the first to be oppressed, and less than a month after the establishment of the Islamic regime, hijab was made mandatory. This led to a massive resistance on 8 March 1979, when women bravely protested the compulsory hijab law.

For the past 46 years, since the Iranian revolution, repression by the Iranian regime and resistance by the Iranian people have continued. Many may remember that in September 2022, after Mahsa (Jina) Amini was killed by the morality police, the “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising erupted. In just a few months, more than 500 protesters were killed, over 20,000 arrested, and repression, arrests, torture, and executions escalated.

When protesters are killed in the streets by the regime’s oppressive forces, the authorities lie to the public and in the news, claiming that they died of accidents or natural causes. The regime then pressure the families of the victims to officially confirm this false narrative in exchange for receiving their loved ones’ bodies. Some comply under pressure, and others resist.

Despite facing violence and intimidation, Iranian women have chosen to stand for freedom, equality, and justice, even at great personal cost. In addition to various oppressive rules against women and lack of rights to body autonomy, the catastrophic political, economic, and social conditions have driven many women to take to the streets, burn their hijabs, and openly defy the regime. Men who support women’s struggle for equality also face harsh punishments. Recently, a young male singer who performed a song supporting women, called “Take Off Your Scarf”, was sentenced to 74 lashes.

Globally, we are witnessing the rise of fascist and far-right forces under the guise of democracy in countries like the U.S. and Israel while Islamic fascist regimes like Iran and Afghanistan grow stronger, endangering millions. In Gaza, tens of thousands have been killed, and countless families displaced. Meanwhile, under the Iranian regime’s dictatorship, people suffer from poverty, illness, pollution, state violence, oppression and are at risk of war. In this situation that these capitalist systems seek control and power over the world for their benefit, we should stand together for a better world.

After the woman, life, freedom uprising, despite relentless repression, Iranian women’s resistance has forced the regime to partially retreat on imposing compulsory hijab laws. However, sustaining this progress and achieving more requires continuous resistance, as well as support and solidarity from other movements in Iran and globally.

Women in Iran are not only fighting the Islamic Republic’s oppressive system but are also challenging deeply ingrained patriarchal norms.

According to the Hengaw Human Rights Organisation, at least 18 women were killed in Iran in January 2025 alone, with 16 of them murdered by male family members. In 2024, 122 women, mostly killed by relatives, lost their lives to gender-based violence.

In Iran, patriarchy dominates not only the culture but also the legal system, which is based on Islamic Sharia. These laws treat men as the owners of women and allow men to justify violence, including murder, under the name of “honour”. Due to state-controlled media and cultural taboos, many women–especially those from underprivileged areas or traditional families–stay silent about abuse or suffer in secrecy out of fear of judgment and retaliation.

Now, imagine the situation of other minorities in Iran. Sexual minorities also suffer brutal persecution. Some human rights activists estimate that between 4,000 and 6,000 persons have been executed in Iran since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, as cited by Wikileaks several years ago.

Despite all these challenges, women’s resistance has never stopped. Activists have been working for years to raise awareness, fight inequality, and push for legal reform, but the regime’s reactionary structure blocks meaningful change. Nevertheless, societal awareness and demands for equality have steadily grown, and people stand up to the regime daily.

The fight against the death penalty has also been ongoing since the 1980s. A movement led by the “Mothers and Families of Khavaran” , who demand truth and justice for their loved ones who have been executed as political prisoners by the Iranian regime, have long opposed the death penalty. The Mothers of Laleh Park, formed after protesters were killed during the 2009 Green Movement, have also campaigned for the abolition of the death penalty. In recent years, the anti-execution movement has gained momentum, even inside prisons.

Since last year, prisoners in one facility have been staging a weekly hunger strike against executions, and now, nearly 40 prisons have joined the movement. Every Tuesday, prisoners refuse eating food in solidarity. This movement has received widespread support from Iranian activists inside the country and abroad.

Meanwhile, in Iran, political prisoners are routinely sentenced to death for the most basic acts of dissent, especially if the refuse to submit to the ideology and politics of the regime, just as in the 1980s when more than 20,000 political prisoners and activists were massacred in prisons and on the streets.

For decades, these atrocities–crimes against humanity and genocide–have been met with widespread condemnation, and the regime remains fearful of international scrutiny. Nevertheless, the Iranian government continues to use the death penalty to suppress dissent, intensifying executions in response to recent waves of protests.

Death penalty is not limited to political prisoners only. Ordinary prisoners–often charged with drug-related offenses–are also executed on a large and continuous scale, especially in deprived areas, while the main distributors are the rich and those connected to the government.

Following the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising, three women activists–Pakhshan Azizi , Verisheh Moradi , and Sharifeh Mohammadi –along with more than 50 political prisoners, have been sentenced to death. Their lives are in great danger, and urgent global solidarity is needed to save them.

I urge you to be the voice of Iran’s brave women, men and all individuals who continue to resist this oppressive, misogynistic, capitalist, and dictatorship regime.

Mansoureh Behkish
March 28, 2025