Posted by Chinenye on Wed 14th Oct, 2026 - tori.ng
A young woman’s online activity has landed her in a case that has shocked human rights groups.
(Najmeh Amini. Photo by The Guardian)
Human rights groups are raising alarm after reports that Najmeh Amini, a 23 year old accounting student, has been sentenced to death for blasphemy over a social media post.
She is being held in Vakilabad prison in Mashhad, in north east Iran.
A source close to her family told the Human Rights Activists in Iran that she was sentenced on charges of insulting the prophet.
She was reportedly arrested after Iran's Cyber Police monitored her online activity.
The exact content of her post has not been made public.
In a separate case, she was sentenced to 12 years and six months for acting against national security and spreading propaganda against the state.
She was arrested during the nationwide protests in January, which were crushed by security forces.
Thousands are reported to have been killed, and rights groups say more than 50,000 people were arrested.
In a recording released last month, Amini asked the UN, lawyers and rights groups to step in and look into her case.
She said she did not want to be a hero, only to have someone speak for her.
Iran Human Rights says more than 600 executions have already been carried out this year.
Its director, Mahmood Amiry Moghaddam, warned that sentencing a young woman to death for a social media post could make capital punishment for peaceful speech more common.
He said the world needs to respond firmly now.
Amini's lawyers argued that she posted the remarks while hallucinating after taking psychedelic mushrooms and that it was a slip of the tongue.
The judge rejected that defence.
Her death sentence is not final and can still be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Death sentences for blasphemy are rare in Iran.
The last documented case was in May 2023, when two men were executed over social media activity.