Iran Allegedly Sentences Woman, 23, to Death Over Social Media Post
The Facts
- Iranian human rights activists have alleged that Najmeh Amini, a 23-year-old held in Mashhad's Vakilabad Central Prison, has been sentenced to death for blasphemy over a social media post.
- Amini, an accounting student, received 12 years, six months and one day in a separate revolutionary court case on charges including acting against national security and propaganda. Her death sentence is not final and can be appealed to the Supreme Court.
- She was tried by Branch 6 of the Khorasan Razavi Criminal Court One, presided over by Judge Javad Asian-Yazd. She told the court she posted the remarks while hallucinating after taking psychedelic mushrooms, a defense the judge rejected.
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The Spin
Pro-Iran narrative
Stories like this, which are rarely verified, only serve to spread sensationalist rumors regarding Iran’s legal system. Country’s across the world, including the U.S., have the death penalty and will exercise it when an individual threatens the sovereignty and security of the state. Furthermore, these stories expose a bloody double standard in which Iran, the victim of repeated imperialist aggression, is depicted as a brutal dictatorship when this is simply not how the state functions.
Anti-Iran narrative
Hanging a 23-year-old over a social media post is state terror, and no faith is defended by a noose. A trial without a lawyer, months behind bars and extra years tacked on for "propaganda" show a regime terrified of young women who speak up. Silence from the U.N. and feminist groups amounts to complicity.
