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Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence against woman Kurdish political prisoner Pakhshan Azizi, dismissing significant procedural and evidentiary flaws in the case, according to her lawyer. “After Branch 26 of the [Islamic] Revolutionary Court in Tehran issued a death sentence against Ms Azizi, we filed an appeal. However, Branch 39 of the Supreme Court reviewed the appeal and unfortunately rejected it without addressing the numerous flaws in the case, thereby confirming the death sentence,” her lawyer Amir Raeisian told Sharq Daily. Azizi, a resident of Mahabad, was arrested at her home in Tehran on August 4, 2023, by state security forces who held a gun to her head, according to her account. During her detention, she was denied legal counsel and subjected to torture to extract false confessions—a routine tactic used by the Islamic Republic against activists. On July 23, 2024, Azizi was sentenced to death on the sham charge of “armed rebellion against the state” by Branch 26 of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court and sentenced to four years in prison for alleged membership in the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), an accusation which her lawyers have denied. In a letter published in July 2024, Azizi detailed instances of torture and harassment during her detention, including being subjected to mock executions. “Humiliation and threats filled the air in the worst physical and mental conditions resulting from prolonged hunger strikes and five months of solitary confinement (the most dreadful white torture) … The same cell where [I] had been held in 2009 for the same charges of ‘being Kurdish’ and ‘being a woman.’” wrote Azizi. Azizi was previously arrested in November 2009 during a protest by Kurdish students at Tehran University, protesting against politically motivated executions in Kurdistan, including the execution of 28-year-old Kurdish political prisoner Ehsan Fattahian. The Islamic Republic of Iran has a long, well-documented history of targeting activists from the marginalized Kurdish community, frequently leveling politically motivated accusations based on fabricated charges, and using the death penalty to instill fear.

Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence against woman Kurdish political prisoner Pakhshan Azizi, dismissing significant procedural and evidentiary flaws in the case, according to her lawyer. “After Branch 26 of the [Islamic] Revolutionary Court in Tehran issued a death sentence against Ms Azizi, we filed an appeal. However, Branch 39 of the Supreme Court reviewed the appeal and unfortunately rejected it without addressing the numerous flaws in the case, thereby confirming the death sentence,” her lawyer Amir Raeisian told Sharq Daily. Azizi, a resident of Mahabad, was arrested at her home in Tehran on August 4, 2023, by state security forces who held a gun to her head, according to her account. During her detention, she was denied legal counsel and subjected to torture to extract false confessions—a routine tactic used by the Islamic Republic against activists. On July 23, 2024, Azizi was sentenced to death on the sham charge of “armed rebellion against the state” by Branch 26 of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court and sentenced to four years in prison for alleged membership in the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), an accusation which her lawyers have denied. In a letter published in July 2024, Azizi detailed instances of torture and harassment during her detention, including being subjected to mock executions. “Humiliation and threats filled the air in the worst physical and mental conditions resulting from prolonged hunger strikes and five months of solitary confinement (the most dreadful white torture) … The same cell where [I] had been held in 2009 for the same charges of ‘being Kurdish’ and ‘being a woman.’” wrote Azizi. Azizi was previously arrested in November 2009 during a protest by Kurdish students at Tehran University, protesting against politically motivated executions in Kurdistan, including the execution of 28-year-old Kurdish political prisoner Ehsan Fattahian. The Islamic Republic of Iran has a long, well-documented history of targeting activists from the marginalized Kurdish community, frequently leveling politically motivated accusations based on fabricated charges, and using the death penalty to instill fear.