Early Sunday morning, September 13, 2026, a female prisoner named Zeynab Rajabi, 46, and a mother of three, was executed at Isfahan Central Prison, also known as Dastgerd Prison.
Zeynab Rajabi had diabetes and had been in detention for about four years. Her husband suffers from a spinal cord injury, and the family had lived for years on unemployment insurance.
Due to poverty and desperation, and to cover her husband’s medical expenses and the costs of supporting her three children, Zeynab had been forced to assist her brother-in-law in storing drugs.
The court sentenced her to death, while the main defendant, Zeynab’s brother-in-law, received only 13 years in prison, a shocking disparity that underscores the sheer injustice and discriminatory treatment of women in Iran.
With the execution of Zeynab Rajabi in the Central Prison of Isfahan, the number of women executed in prisons across Iran since the beginning of 2026 has reached at least 27.
A Systemic Cycle of Violence and Injustice
Women sentenced to death by the Iranian regime are often trapped in a continuous cycle of violence and defenselessness. They are the primary victims of discriminatory laws, domestic abuse, poverty, and a corrupt judicial structure that offers them absolutely no legal protection.
Furthermore, women executed for drug-related offenses are frequently forced into trafficking by male family members or by extreme poverty. Meanwhile, the primary smuggling networks and drug cartels remain under the control of syndicates tied to the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which pocket massive profits and enjoy complete immunity.
Iran, the world record holder in executing women
According to data recorded by the Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, at least 355 women have been executed in Iran since 2007.
Many of the women executed by the Iranian regime are themselves victims of domestic violence and discriminatory family laws. A significant number have acted in self-defense.
Since Masoud Pezeshkian took office, the clerical regime has executed more than 4080 prisoners, including 115 women.
According to the NCRI sources, in 2025 alone, at least 2,201 executions were recorded in Iran, more than double the 1,006 individuals executed in 2024.
Amnesty International confirmed in its annual report that Iran’s ruling dictatorship carried out at least 2,159 executions in 2025, the highest documented annual execution rate worldwide since 1981.
The NCRI Women’s Committee calls on the United Nations and relevant agencies, the European Union and its member states, as well as all human rights defenders, to take effective measures to halt the rampant executions in Iran.
