23-year-old woman sentenced to death in Iran shares poignant message from prison

A woman who has been sentenced to death in Iran can be heard calling for justice and asking people to ‘be my voice’ in a poignant audio message recorded from prison.

Najmeh Amini has been sentenced to death for blasphemy on social media. The accounting student is being held in a prison in the city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran.

She was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison and death in separate cases. Her family told the US-based group Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI) that she was sentenced to death on charges of “sab ol-nabi” (insulting the prophet).

She was arrested by security forces in Mashhad in February, according to Iran Human Rights, following the demonstrations in Tehran in January. The arrest was mmade after her social media was monitored by Fata, Iran’s Cyber Police. The content of her posts which resulted in her sentence has not been publicly disclosed.

Najmeh Amini is detained in Mashhad Central Prison (Iran Human Rights)

In a powerful audio recording made last month which is attributed to Amini, she appealed to lawyers and human rights activists for an intervention and an investigation into her case.

“Greetings to the people of Iran. I am Najmeh Amini, 23 years old, I am sending this message from the central prison of Mashhad on 18th of September 2026,” she says at the beginning of the recording.

“After eight months of uncertainty, on 16th of September 2026 I was given a death sentence by the revolutionary court’s criminal division adjudicated by Judge Assian. Today, I don’t want to make a hero of myself, all I want is for you to be my voice.”

Amini, who pleads her innocence, urges listeners to remember her voice while also asking for help. “I am an innocent girl, a young person with so many dreams, I have parents who are looking forward to seeing me again, I have a family who spend every night in fear of losing me for ever. I don’t want a few lines in a criminal case to be the things I will be remembered by.

Demonstrations took place in Tehran in January, triggered by soaring inflation (Anonymous/Getty Images)

“If you are listening to my voice, don’t just hear it for a moment and forget it! All I want is justice and to be able to defend myself.

“I am asking, lawyers and human rights activists and all those who listen to the voices of the innocent people, to investigate my case. I want international and human rights organisations and responsible institutions in the United Nations to hear my voice and follow and investigate my case.”

The recording ends with a message about Iran’s future. “Remember my name, I may never be able to speak again, but as long as I am alive, I have one hope, and that is to see a free and prosperous Iran before my life ends by the noose.”

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Iran Human Rights, warned that Amini’s death sentence could set a dangerous precedent for punishing 'peaceful online expression', urging the international community to demand a reversal of the sentence and a suspension on executions in Iran.

"Sentencing a 23-year-old woman to death for what she expressed on social media is an extremely alarming development. Although blasphemy carries the death penalty under Iranian law and two men were executed on such charges in 2023, this case risks expanding the use of the death penalty against peaceful online expression," Amiry-Moghaddam warned.