A court in Tehran has sentenced three prisoners of conscience from Iran’s ethnic minorities, including a woman, to death on charges of waging war against God, Norway-based rights group Hengaw said on Sunday.
The defendants were identified as Nasimeh Eslamzahi, a woman from Iran’s Baluch minority; her husband, Arsalan Sheikhi, from a Kurdish minority community in the northwest; and a third man identified only as Hassan.
Eslamzahi is being held in Gharchak prison near Tehran, while Sheikhi and Hassan are detained in Evin Prison in northern Tehran, Hengaw said.
The case was overseen by Judge Abolghasem Salavati, who is known for issuing harsh sentences in political cases and was sanctioned by the United States in 2019 for his role in what Washington described as “unfair trials” and multiple death sentences.
Hengaw said the defendants were accused of involvement in a 2023 bus bombing that killed an infant but denied the charges during their trial.
Eslamzahi was pregnant at the time of her arrest and gave birth to her daughter in prison. Hengaw said she and the baby were held for 40 days in solitary confinement in a cell with poor ventilation and inadequate lighting before being transferred to another ward.
The report comes a day after Iran executed seven political prisoners from ethnic minorities, including six Arabs and one Kurd, in what rights groups called a “grave violation” of international human rights and due process standards following torture and unfair trials.
According to Amnesty International, Iranian authorities have executed more than 1,000 people so far this year, the highest annual figure recorded by the group in at least 15 years.
Hossein Pourfarzaneh, the organization’s chief, said during a ceremony in Tehran that the newly inducted aircraft-- along with one helicopter and five small passenger planes -- would add more than 2,500 seats to the country’s aviation network.
“These projects are aimed at improving service quality and expanding air connectivity across the country, including to the islands and remote provinces,” Pourfarzaneh was quoted as saying by the Tasnim news agency.
He said 13 transportation projects worth about $125 million had been launched to strengthen Iran’s air infrastructure.
According to Pourfarzaneh, Iran has added over 5,100 passenger seats since 2021.
Iran has struggled for decades to modernize its aging fleet due to international sanctions restricting aircraft sales and access to spare parts.
More than half of its estimated 330 commercial planes are grounded, forcing Tehran to rely on leased or secondhand aircraft.
Earlier this year, Iran took delivery of several used Airbus A330s from China under barter deals involving oil, according to domestic media reports.
Late in September, an Iranian lawmaker said Russian MiG-29 fighter jets have arrived in Iran and officials also discussed acquiring additional Russian-built jets, including Sukhoi Su-35s, as part of broader defense and transport cooperation with Moscow.