Iran International:

Zahra Shahbaz Tabari, a 67-year-old Iranian political prisoner, has been sentenced to death by a revolutionary court on charges of collaboration with groups fighting the Islamic Republic, a US-based human rights group said on Saturday.

Authorities have accused her of links to the exiled opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK), a charge the family denies, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

The ruling was issued last week by Judge Ahmad Darvish of Branch One of the Rasht Revolutionary Court following a brief video hearing. Shahbaz Tabari’s trial lasted less than ten minutes, and her family called the proceedings sham and illegal, HRANA wrote.

She had no access to an independent lawyer, her son told HRANA. “The court-appointed attorney did not defend her and simply endorsed the verdict…The entire session was a show.”

He added that his mother had no connection with any political organization and that the accusations were entirely fabricated.

Shahbaz Tabari was arrested on April 17 at her home in Rasht and transferred to Lakan Prison. Security forces searched her residence and confiscated family belongings during the arrest.

The evidence cited in her case included a piece of cloth bearing the slogan ‘Woman, Resistance, Freedom’ and an unpublished voice message. There was no indication of organizational or armed activity, her family said.

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