Broken elbows, prison sentences and death sentences... Iran's twin sisters face government wrath
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In a chilling display of state repression that has sparked international outrage, 19-year-old twin sisters in Iran have been handed draconian sentences for their alleged participation in anti-government demonstrations earlier this year. Taraneh Rahimi has been sentenced to death, while her twin sister, Romina Rahimi, received a 25-year prison sentence. The high school students were abducted from their family home in the middle of the night by masked operatives later identified as members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), plunging their family into a four-month nightmare of uncertainty and anguish.
Months of Enforced Disappearance and Brutal Torture in Custody
For four agonizing months, the twins' mother, Marzieh Noormohammadi, searched desperately across hospitals and state detention facilities before discovering that her daughters were imprisoned in Isfahan's notorious Dolatabad Prison. When permitted a brief visit in May, the mother was utterly unable to recognize her children due to horrific physical trauma. According to their cousin, Masoud Noormohammadi, who resides in Utah, USA, the teenagers suffered broken elbows, fractured finger joints, shattered legs, and clumps of hair pulled out from being dragged across cells. The family revealed that Taraneh was subjected to severe psychological coercion, including explicit threats of sexual assault against Romina to force false confessions.
Flawed Legal Proceedings and Coerced Confessions Condemned
Legal representatives and family members have vehemently denounced the trial, noting that the mother was barred from attending court proceedings and that all statements were extracted under extreme duress. Relatives stressed that neither of the sisters had any prior record of activism or involvement in violence before joining the nationwide protests in Isfahan on January 8 and 9. Family members have also highlighted gross procedural violations, pointing out that authorities bypassed standard legal windows for appealing death sentences, deploying capital punishment as an intimidation tactic to strike fear into young dissidents and deter future anti-government uprisings.
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