The family of 21-year-old twin sisters Taraneh and Romina Rahimi, sentenced in Iran to death and to decades in prison respectively for protesting against the Tehran regime, has turned to the United Nations for help.

British human rights lawyers acting on the family's behalf have lodged a formal "submission of information" with the UN concerning the twins' case. The sisters were charged with "waging war against God" — a capital offence under Iranian law — after they joined protests against the Iranian regime.

The Case

Taraneh Rahimi, 21, received a death sentence. Her twin sister Romina was sentenced to decades in jail. Both convictions rest on the charge of "waging war against God" (moharebeh), a charge Iranian courts have repeatedly applied to protest participants since the eruption of nationwide demonstrations against the Tehran government.

The charge carries the death penalty under Iran's Islamic Penal Code, and rights groups have long criticised its use against protesters. For the Rahimi twins, the practical stakes are stark: one sister faces execution, the other a substantial portion of her life behind bars.

The UN Appeal

The family's recourse to the United Nations takes the form of a "submission of information" — a formal mechanism through which third parties, including lawyers, can bring a case to the attention of UN human rights bodies. British human rights lawyers prepared and submitted the filing on the family's behalf.

The submission asks the UN to intervene in a case the family says arose solely from the twins' participation in protests. It represents the family's attempt to secure international scrutiny of proceedings that, in their view, failed to meet basic fair-trial standards.

Practical Significance

For practitioners, the case illustrates the growing use of UN special procedures — including submissions of information to special rapporteurs and other human rights mechanisms — as a parallel track where domestic remedies have been exhausted or are unavailable. It also shows the role of UK-based human rights counsel in mobilising international bodies on behalf of defendants facing capital charges abroad. The outcome of the twins' cases will test whether international pressure can affect the enforcement of death sentences handed down for protest-related offences in Iran.

The family's appeal to the UN follows reporting by The Guardian on the twins' sentencing, which brought international attention to the case.