Saving Arghavan Fallahi Is an Urgent Test of International Resolve Against Political Executions

Hossein Abedini, Deputy Representative of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in the United Kingdom, said the death sentence imposed on 25-year-old political prisoner Arghavan Fallahi requires immediate international action before Iran’s ruling authorities commit another irreversible crime.

Abedini said Fallahi was arrested on January 25, 2025, and held in Evin Prison, where she spent five months in solitary confinement and was subjected to intense interrogation and severe physical and psychological pressure. Branch 15 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Abolghasem Salavati, subsequently sentenced her to death, with the verdict communicated to her on July 1, 2026.

He stressed that the sentence cannot be separated from the authorities’ wider escalation in the use of executions against political opponents and participants in recent uprisings. Targeting a young woman because of her political beliefs and support for the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran demonstrates that Iran’s judiciary functions not as an independent institution of justice but as a security instrument for eliminating opponents and preserving a regime facing a profound survival crisis.

Abedini warned that Fallahi’s case evokes the painful memory of the 1988 massacre, when thousands of political prisoners were executed following summary proceedings. The international community must therefore act before the sentence is carried out, rather than limiting its response to statements of regret afterward.

He called on the United Nations, member states, international human rights organizations, the UN Special Rapporteur, and the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission to demand the immediate cancellation of Fallahi’s death sentence, guarantee her safety, and secure unrestricted access to Iranian prisons and political detainees.

Abedini added that Britain’s recent action against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reflects growing recognition that domestic repression and terrorism abroad originate from the same ruling structure. He also noted that the statement signed by more than 120 Arab figures condemning the Iranian regime’s attacks against Arab countries demonstrates that Tehran’s violence at home and aggression across the region are two sides of the same policy of coercion and impunity.

He concluded by urging lawmakers, lawyers, human rights defenders, political leaders, and members of the media to join the international appeal and help prevent the execution of Arghavan Fallahi.