IHRNGO Calls for Strong International Reaction to Pakhshan Azizi’s Death Sentence

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a Kurdish civil activist named Pakhshan Azizi was sentenced to death and four years imprisonment for charges of “baghy through membership in armed opposition groups” by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Afshari. Her lawyers were notified of the judgement on 23 July.

Pakhshan Azizi was arrested at her family home along with three relatives on 4 August 2023 when she returned to Iran after ten years abroad.

Speaking to IHRNGO on the condition of anonymity, one of her relatives said: “This sentence has no legal validity because there is no evidence against her in the case. It states that she had a weapon in Iraq and Syria and that she’d fought against ISIS but what does Syria have to do with Iran for them to even mention it? It is a source of pride if she did fight ISIS, not shame! At the time, Pakhshan only served as a social worker and her activities were purely charitable, not political for them to accuse her of armed rebellion.”

“In court, Pakhshan Azizi’s lawyers questioned how the front pages of Iranian newspapers once proudly reported the war against ISIS. What has happened now for it to be named as a crime in this case? She is a journalist and social worker and her job was to write and carry out charitable humanitarian work. We are well aware of her work and have no doubts. Of course, they also accused her of being a member of PJAK (Kurdistan Free Life Party) but there’s no evidence to prove such membership. She wasn’t armed when they arrested her and nothing was ever found,” the source added.

Pakhshan Azizi was held in the IRGC’s Ward 209 in Evin Prison for five months following her arrest and was banned from visitation rights in that period, including visits with her lawyers. Her trial took place on 16 and 17 June 2024. In a letter from prison, she talked about the violence she had endured and wrote: “Working in refugee camps could be the greatest moral-conscience service in a society that has been under oppression for years. Is everyone there a member of the PKK?”