Some of the women, who were claimed to be on the verge of execution, have been released, Iran said.
Iran’s judiciary denied on Tuesday that eight women arrested over protests that shook the Islamic republic this year were at risk of execution, after US President Donald Trump urged Tehran to release them to help negotiations.
Rights groups have said at least one woman arrested over the January protests has been sentenced to death while at least one more is facing charges that carry the death penalty and could see her executed.
“Trump was misled once again by fake news,” the judiciary’s official Mizan Online website said. “The women who were claimed to be on the verge of execution, some of them have been released, while others face charges that, if convictions are upheld, would at most result in imprisonment.”
Trump had earlier said on social media that the women’s release could work in Iran’s favour in negotiations, re-posting an activist’s claim that eight women were facing death by hanging. That claim did not give names but included photographs of the women.
“I would greatly appreciate the release of these women,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“To the Iranian leaders, who will soon be in negotiations with my representatives: I would greatly appreciate the release of these women. I am sure that they will respect the fact that you did so. Please do them no harm! Would be a great start to our negotiations!!!” – President… pic.twitter.com/pxU8xZFvAh
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 21, 2026
US-based Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad however posted the names of all eight women on her X account. They had all been arrested in connection with the January protests, which activists say were put down in a crackdown that left thousands dead.
“Say their names,” Alinejad said, alleging that one of those held was as young as 16.
One of the women identified, Bita Hemmati, was sentenced to death along with three men, including her husband, in a case where they are accused of throwing concrete blocks from a residential building onto security forces in Tehran, several rights groups reported earlier this month.
The US-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center rights group said it also believed that Hemmati was the woman who appeared in a video broadcast on state television in January being personally interrogated by judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei.
Another woman in the pictures reposted by Trump is Mahboubeh Shabani, 32, who according to the Norway-based Hengaw rights group, has been charged with the capital offence of “waging war against God” after being accused of using her motorcycle to transport wounded protesters in the northeastern city of Mashhad.
She is currently being held in the women’s ward of Vakilabad prison in Mashhad, according to Hengaw, which expressed “deep concern over the risk of a death sentence in this case”.
