At Amsterdam’s International Solidarity Festival last weekend, the Netherlands’ largest trade union federation, FNV, added its powerful voice to growing international outrage over the case of Sharifeh Mohammadi, an Iranian labor activist facing execution.
Before a crowd of thousands, Roya Mowid, political activist and board member of the FNV Women’s Network, read a resolution demanding Mohammadi’s immediate release and the abolition of death sentences in Iran.
“True freedom only has meaning in the light of solidarity,” the resolution declared. “We strongly call on the Iranian government to unconditionally release Sharifeh Mohammadi and to put an end to the issuing and execution of death sentences.”
The FNV, which represents nearly one million members, has a long tradition of supporting labor rights worldwide. But for many at the festival, Mohammadi’s case has become an emblem of the risks faced by activists who challenge Iran’s repressive labor policies.
Mohammadi, 46, is an industrial engineer and the mother of a 13-year-old son. She became known in Iran for her involvement in grassroots labor organizing and her outspoken opposition to the death penalty.
In December 2023, security forces arrested her at her home in the northern city of Rasht. Her devices and family belongings were confiscated, and she spent weeks in solitary confinement without access to a lawyer.
Seven months later, in July 2024, a Revolutionary Court sentenced her to death on the charge of “baghi” rebellion against the Islamic state. The verdict rested heavily on her past ties to a labor coordinating committee, as well as personal items seized in her home, including posters reading “No to Execution.”
Human rights groups condemned the verdict as baseless and politically motivated. Under pressure, Iran’s Supreme Court overturned the ruling in October 2024, citing “flaws and ambiguities.”
Yet after a retrial, the death sentence was reinstated. And in August this year, the Supreme Court once again confirmed the ruling despite its own earlier reversal.
Her lawyer, Amir Raeesian, said the court ignored serious due process violations and repeated reliance on intelligence reports instead of evidence. “The ambiguities remain,” he said, warning that Mohammadi’s execution could be carried out at any time.
The case has drawn sharp criticism from Amnesty International, Front Line Defenders, and other human rights groups, which say Mohammadi’s trial was marred by allegations of torture, coerced confessions, and denial of fair representation.
“Sharifeh Mohammadi should never have been arrested in the first place,” Amnesty stated in February. “Her retrial did not meet international standards, and her life remains in grave danger.”
Trade unions have also mobilized. The Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO), unions in Germany, and labor coalitions in Canada have issued appeals to the Iranian government. For them, Mohammadi’s case highlights the growing suppression of independent labor movements in Iran, where workers’ strikes are often met with arrests.
At the International Solidarity Festival in Amsterdam, Mohammadi’s name was spoken alongside those of other imprisoned activists worldwide. Organizers emphasized that the struggle for workers’ rights knows no borders.
For the FNV, the resolution is more than a symbolic gesture. Union leaders say they will press the Dutch government, the European Union, and international labor federations to take concrete steps to save Mohammadi’s life.
The stakes are high. According to human rights monitors, Iran has carried out hundreds of executions this year alone, often targeting dissidents under vague security charges.
“Sharifeh’s case is not only about one woman,” Mowid said after the vote. “It is about defending the universal right to organize, to speak freely, and to live without fear of execution.”
For Mohammadi’s family, every show of support matters. Her 13-year-old son has joined public appeals for his mother’s life, while her lawyer continues to file petitions for judicial review.
Activists stress that international pressure has saved prisoners in Iran before and could again.
“Her life depends on us keeping the spotlight on her,” said one FNV member at the festival. “Silence is the greatest danger.”
As the crowd dispersed in Amsterdam, banners calling for Mohammadi’s release carried a message of solidarity across borders: an insistence that the fight for justice for one worker is a fight for justice everywhere.
