On July 23, 2024, Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari, sentenced Pakhshan Azizi, a Kurdish activist and social worker, to death on the charge of “armed rebellion” (Baghi). Pakhshan Azizi, a graduate of Allameh Tabatabaei University, was arrested on August 4, 2023, and has since been held in Tehran’s Evin Prison, where she has faced pressures, ill-treatment, denial of family visits and denial of access to legal counsel.
According to her lawyers, the death sentence against Pakhshan Azizi was issued on charges related to the Kurdish Free Life Party (PJAK). Azizi is alleged to have engaged in armed activities for the rebel group. However, her lawyers have denied this association.
For the past seven years, Pakhshan Azizi had been in Iraq and Syria working to support women and assisting war refugees in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava), who were displaced by ISIS war crimes. In 2009 Azizi was arrested for participating in a peaceful demonstration against politically motivated executions in the Kurdistan region of Iran and was released on bail after four months of detention.
Nearly 60 women political prisoners in Evin prison, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, have staged a sit-in to protest the death sentence issued for Pakhshan Azizi.
The severe charges against Pakhshan are deeply concerning as they indicate a worrisome trend in the targeting and punishment of Kurdish activists, especially following the woman, life, freedom uprisings in Iran, which were sparked by the death in custody of a Kurdish-Iranian woman, Mahsa Jina Amini.
This alarming verdict comes shortly after a death sentence was issued against WHRD and labor rights activist Sharifeh Mohammadi on July 4, 2024, whose activism was limited to a legally registered labor rights organization working inside Iran. Two other WHRDs, Verishe Moradi, and Nasim Gholami Simiyari also face similar charges.
The response of the Iranian state to the mass protests following the death in custody of Mahsa Jina Amini, should not be continued repression, killing, and the issuance of death sentences, which have long been used to create fear and discourage dissent. Rather, serious steps should be taken to de-securitize the approach of the state toward human rights defenders and civil society.
Femena strongly condemns the death sentence against Pakhshan Azizi and demands the immediate dismissal of the verdict against her and other WHRDs facing similar charges and sentences.
We strongly urge the international community to pressure Iranian authorities to drop the death sentences against Pakhshan Azizi and Sharifeh Mohammadi and to dismiss charges against Verishe Moradi and Nasim Gholami.