Death Threats Against Narges Mohammadi

“Warnings” from the Ministry of Intelligence of Iran to 2023 Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi^[1], sent via third parties while she is on medical furlough from Evin Prison, had threatened that “rogue actors” are looking for her whereabouts and are going to “waste” her, and that there is an “ongoing project to eliminate you.” In July, her lawyer was told to relay to her an order of not conducting media interviews, mobilize rights groups, or publish statements.^[2]

Such death threats are taking place in an atmosphere of ever more severe repression by the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) in the wake of attacks by Israel and the U.S., including the June 23 Israeli bombing that destroyed Evin, a war crime. The regime confirmed at least 79 people died in that bombing, but many prisoners remain unaccounted for, key among them 100 transgender prisoners housed in a segregated wing, who are all missing and presumed dead.

Regime’s Sinister Threat: “They deserve to be executed in the manner of 1988”

An article in the semi-official Fars News Agency referenced the “secret fatwa” by then Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini that led to the massacre of at least 5,000 imprisoned revolutionaries, dissidents and other regime opponents in the summer of 1988.^[3] The article said detainees accused of collaborating with Israeli and Western intelligence agencies “deserve to be executed in the manner of 1988." It also said the 1988 executions were a “brilliant chapter” in the fight against “terrorism” and that “society today recognizes the need for such proper measures against domestic terrorist networks.”^[4] This ominous threat aims not only to drive legislative authority for mass executions on an even more horrific scale than the present, but also to whip up reactionary support among sections of the population.

The IRI, stung by the unprovoked Israeli/U.S. attacks in June’s “12-day war” in which drones were smuggled deep into Iran and private residences of top officials were targeted, wants to turn people’s anger into a reactionary and murderous scapegoating of dissidents, ethnic minorities as supposed separatists, and immigrants for supposedly aiding Mossad, Israel’s secret service. But for decades, Israeli spies have been eavesdropping on IRI command centers, and Mossad agents seemed to have penetrated the most sensitive organs of the regime's military and security apparatus. There are real indications that security breaches had likely penetrated the ranks of the regime itself, and that they should search their own house as to the presence of Mossad and U.S. agents.^[5]

12 Death Sentences for 5 Kurdish Protesters from Woman, Life, Freedom Uprising

A poignant reminder of the regime’s retribution and pre-emptive strike on the people’s potential to rebel is the sentencing of five protesters from the historic 2022-2023 uprising in the province of West Azerbaijan, to a total of 12 death sentences on charges such as “enmity against God,” “armed rebellion” and formation of “rebel” organizations. A separate case was added for “carrying out intelligence missions for Mossad.” The other nine defendants in the case received long prison terms and fines, and all testified in court of being subjected to intense torture in extracting their false confessions.

The “No to Executions Tuesday” hunger strike campaign, in its 76th consecutive week and now in 47 prisons across Iran, denounced the wave of arrests and stepped-up executions and the 12 death sentences of the five Kurdish activists:

…Exposure of exiled political prisoners to greater Tehran [Penitentiary] and Gharchak prisons, is only a small part of the inhumane situation governing the country's prisons…. We demand the immediate abolition of all death sentences in Iran and we believe that the Iranian people, together with other oppressed nations, will continue this path of resistance until victory and liberation.

Urgent Need for General Amnesty of Prisoners

An article in IranWire.com titled “Khamenei Faces Criticism as Calls Grow for General Amnesty” details the legal and moral basis for a general amnesty for prisoners in war times:

Imprisonment during wartime is a double punishment for inmates, who not only endure harsh prison conditions but also suffer anxiety over their families’ safety and are unable to protect them…. As political prisoners have said about Israel’s attack on Evin Prison, such disasters could happen again - making a general amnesty during wartime essential to protect prisoners’ rights and safety, support their families, and demonstrate good governance.... News of prisoners’ conditions following Israel’s attack on Evin Prison and the transfer of prisoners to other Tehran-area prisons has caused deep concern among most Iranians…. No priority ranks higher than passing general amnesty legislation and mass prisoner releases—especially political prisoners.

On July 7, 2025 Amnesty International issued an urgent call for people to urge Iran “to immediately release all prisoners arbitrarily detained and consider releasing other prisoners, especially pre-trial detainees and those eligible for conditional release.” It calls on the IRI to disclose the fate and whereabouts of all held in Evin’s political prisoners wards; grant all prisoners access to their families and lawyers, protect them from torture and other ill-treatment and to take all measures to protect the right to life and health of all prisoners, ensuring that different categories of prisoners are held separately, all are given adequate medical care and are treated humanely in line with international standards, and allow international monitors to conduct prison inspections

One Million Afghan Refugees Deported, and Counting

As part of an overall repressive atmosphere of mass terror, and to divide and conquer the population, Iran’s theocrats whipped up ugly nationalism by targeting “the other” and deporting more than one million Afghan migrants since the beginning of 2025, with nearly 600,000 returned to Afghanistan since June 1, at least 70% of them forcibly, reported the Center for Human Rights in Iran. A staggering 36,000 were deported on one single day after the outbreak of the recent 12-day Israeli attack. Afghan women, men and children were forced onto buses or into locked camps without food or water and then abandoned to desperate conditions in Afghanistan. Especially for women and girls, they are forced back under theocratic fascist Taliban rule.

The Humanity of the Oppressed vs Inhumanity of Theocrats

The regime is using anti-Afghan racism and xenophobia to harden its reactionary social base in contrast to inspiring examples of solidarity among the oppressed. In the province of Sistan and Baluchistan bordering Afghanistan, ordinary people among the Baluchs, one of the poorest ethnic groups in Iran, have organized cooking of food to take to starving Afghans on buses, or are seen passing food under gates or over walls of locked camps. In an interview on @haalvsh, a recent deportee reports that 7,000 Afghans were held in a desert concentration camp under the blazing sun. Trucks brought food and water for sale only. However, Baluch youth forced the trucks to turn around. “They said, either take the vehicles away, or we’ll set them on fire because we provide food to the migrants for free… We will never forget this kindness.”

Shirin Ebadi, Nobel laureate and a signatory to IEC’s Emergency Appeal, published a video showing the armed attack on a Baluch village under the pretext of arresting Mossad spies. When a group of village women opposed them, security agents opened fire, murdering one Baluch woman in cold blood and severely injuring 11 others. After this, groups of women set fires on the road in protest.

“In a time when fascism and reaction grow more rabid, we still believe in humanity and struggle”

In the intense societal tumult indicated above, a group of activist women published an insightful, timely statement in Akhbar-Rooz that you can read in full in English on IEC’s Global Movement page. It concludes:

Now, in a moment of peak weakness and desperation, the regime foolishly imagines it can silence all these voices, break the solidarity between prison and street, uproot existing movements, and distort public unity… It tries to erase the will of a people united in their desire to overthrow it—through widespread arrests, escalated executions, and by passing medieval punishments of torture and long imprisonment under the pretext of wartime conditions. It has even weaponized the expulsion of Afghan migrants, inflicting yet another wound on our society, hoping to crush our collective determination... We women, from the heart of this wounded but radiant history, declare: All political prisoners must be freed! Freedom is neither a privilege nor a favor; it is a human right.

We demand:

* Immediate abolition of death sentences,
* An end to the systemic repression inside prisons,
* Unconditional release of all political and ideological prisoners,
* Humane living conditions for non-political prisoners,
* A full stop to the mass deportations of Afghan immigrants

In a time when fascism and reaction grow more rabid, we still believe in humanity and struggle—because it is still possible to stand, hand in hand, for the liberation of political prisoners, for the abolition of executions, for the freedom of all people, and for the creation of a society free from all forms of discrimination, domination, and power-hunger.

We shout: #WomanLifeFreedom

Mural in Colombia Opposes Both U.S./Israel and Islamic Republic

In a show of global grassroots solidarity, a video from revolutionaries and activists in Colombia shows people collectively painting a large mural that puts forward a refreshingly internationalist view of the struggle of the people in Iran and the Middle East.

The text (translated from Spanish by IEC volunteers) of the mural at the National University in Bogotá reads: Stop U.S./Israeli Aggression Against Iran! Stop the Israeli/U.S. genocide against Palestine immediately! Supporting Israel/U.S. or Islamic fundamentalism is betraying the people of Iran and Palestine and their hopes for a future free of all forms of oppression! STOP imperialist domination and wars for empire

The Spanish reads: ¡Alto a la agresión de EEUU/Israel a Irán! ¡Paren el genocidio de Israel/EEUU contra Palestina inmediatamente! Apoyar a Israel/EEUU o al fundamentalismo islámico es traicionar a los pueblos de Irán y Palestina y sus esperanzas de un futuro libre de cualquier forma de opresión! ALTO a la dominación imperialista y a las guerras por imperio!