Iranian Twin Sisters Suffer Broken Feet, Torn-Out Hair, Now Face Execution for Protesting

Two Iranian twin sisters have been sentenced to death after suffering broken feet, torn-out hair and threats of sexual violence in custody, human rights groups have disclosed. Taraneh and Romina Rahimi were arrested during Iran’s protest crackdown and now face execution after what campaigners say was a coerced confession extracted under brutal duress.

“They told me if you don’t sign, we will rape your sister,” Taraneh alleged, describing how prison guards pressured her to admit to protest-related charges.

The sisters’ ordeal underscores the escalating repression against women who participated in the wave of demonstrations that rocked Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022. According to accounts gathered by international rights monitors, the twins were subjected to physical and psychological torture designed to break their will.

Physical Abuse and Sexual Threats

Both Taraneh and Romina are reported to have suffered broken bones in their feet and had clumps of hair violently ripped from their scalps during interrogation sessions – injuries that medical evidence, shared with advocates, says are consistent with deliberate blunt-force trauma. The abuse left them with visible scars and deep trauma, campaigners note.

The most outrageous element, however, involves the use of rape as a weapon of coercion. Taraneh Rahimi was reportedly told that her sister Romina would be sexually assaulted unless she signed a pre-written confession. Such tactics, rights groups say, are part of a pattern of state-sanctioned intimidation used against female detainees in Iran’s notorious prison system.

From Forced Confession to Death Sentence

The case took a lethal turn when judicial authorities handed down death sentences, according to multiple reports. The charges are believed to include “waging war against God” – a sweeping capital offence under Iran’s Islamic penal code that has been increasingly levelled against protesters. The sisters now join a growing list of activists facing execution after trials that international observers call a travesty of due process.

Iran has executed multiple protesters in the past year, drawing sharp condemnation from the United Nations and human rights organizations. Human Rights Watch has documented dozens of cases of torture inside Iranian prisons and has repeatedly called Tehran to halt the death penalty for political prisoners. Yet the crackdown only appears to be intensifying.

Wider Crackdown on Women and Dissent

The Rahimi twins’ fate is emblematic of a harsh campaign to crush dissent, particularly among women who stood at the forefront of the 2022 uprising. Thousands have been arrested, and many have testified to sexual violence, solitary confinement and coerced confessions. Iranian authorities have shown little sign of relenting, with new death sentences announced in recent months.

Legal representatives for the sisters have not been able to make public statements, and it is unclear whether the twins have access to independent defence counsel. Typically, those facing security charges are assigned state-appointed lawyers with severely limited ability to challenge evidence or expose the conditions under which confessions were extracted.

Campaigners warn that without urgent international pressure, the Rahimi sisters could be put to death within weeks. The case, they say, is not an isolated incident but a chilling signal of how far Iran’s judiciary is prepared to go to silence dissent.