What do we know about the viral claims of Iranian protesters facing execution?
US President Donald Trump claims he helped save these eight Iranian female protesters from execution, whilst social media users claim the image is AI-generated. What do we know about the women pictured?
Last week, US President Donald Trump shared an image of eight Iranian women he claimed had been sentenced to execution, asking Iranian leaders to release them.
The next day, he followed up on his Truth Social platform, alleging that the women had been pardoned, with four released immediately and four sentenced to prison for one month.
Iran's judiciary-linked Mizan News Agency responded to Trump's first post, calling it fabricated. None of the women pictured in the image received a death sentence, according to the agency.
It claimed that several of the women had been released, whilst the others faced charges that, if proven, would carry prison sentences rather than the death penalty.
At the same time, Iran-linked accounts spread the viral rumour online that the post was AI-generated, casting doubt on its authenticity.
But is there any truth to these claims? We spoke to two independent human rights organisations, whose evidence casts doubt on the allegations made by both sides.
One woman sentenced to death
According to Oslo-based independent non-profit Iran Human Rights and US-based NGO Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA), only one of the women pictured has received a death sentence.
Bita Hemmati was arrested in early January alongside her husband, brother and two others, according to Iran Human Rights. They were all sentenced to death by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court.
Hemmati was accused of injuring a member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) alongside "operational action for the hostile government of the United States and terrorist groups (anti-revolutionary and monarchist)" through protest action, including "using explosives, incendiary materials and injuring hundreds of innocent citizens and security defenders."
According to HRA, the prosecution relied on forced broadcast confessions in sentencing Hemmati.
Independent news website IranWire, headquartered in the UK, noted that Hemmati's sentence is not final and could therefore be appealed.
There is limited current independent information on the outcome of Hemmati's sentence or the status of her case.
Misleading claims on both sides
Aside from Hemmati, information on the remaining seven women is limited, with several arrested and released on bail.
Iran Human Rights said Mahboubeh Shabani was detained on 2 February and is currently held in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad. According to the group, she is facing death penalty charges.
HRA told The Cube, Euronews' fact-checking team, that they had not received confirmed information on the severity of the charges levelled against her.
HRA said there are no credible reports that Ghazal Ghalandari has been sentenced to death, or even that she remains in detention. Iran Human Rights similarly said it had no new reports since her January arrest.
Both groups reported there were few credible reports that Golnaz Naraghi and Venus Hosseinnejad were in continued detention or had received a death sentence.
As for Ensieh Nejati, HRA said their sources indicate she remains in detention, but without a confirmed death sentence. According to Iran Human Rights, Diana Taher Abadi was arrested and threatened with a death sentence, but there is no evidence that it was ultimately issued.
For one woman, Panah Movahedi, groups said there is limited credible information on her whereabouts since she disappeared following the 9 January protests.
Information vacuum
Verifying individual cases in Iran is challenging, especially in protest-related cases, as access to information is limited and difficult to independently confirm.
The war between Iran and the US and Israel and a near-total internet blackout in Iran have only heightened the challenge of gaining verifiable information on individuals who have disappeared following protests and arrests.
A joint report by Iran Human Rights and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty found that, in 2025, executions in Iran were at their highest level in decades, with at least 1,639 people executed in 2025 alone, the highest number recorded since 1989.
Iran's continued use of the death penalty in cases linked to protests has been repeatedly condemned, also by the European Union, which has deemed its use a violation of fundamental human rights.
In April 2025, the European Parliament passed a resolution to condemn what it called Iran's "execution spree", following the death sentences of activists Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani. Their executions were carried out on 27 July 2025.
