Independent human rights experts working with the United Nations and a senior American official on Tuesday urged Iranian authorities to revoke a death sentence issued against Kurdish women's rights activist and social worker Pakhshan Azizi.
The UN experts said Iran should void Azizi's death sentence and investigate allegations of torture and unfair trial practices in her case, adding that they are in contact with the government on their concerns.
“Ms. Azizi’s prosecution reflects the heightened persecution that minority women activists face in Iran and the continued intention to punish and silence them by creating a climate of fear,” they added.
Azizi, who was arrested by the Iranian intelligence service in August 2023 in Tehran, was held in solitary confinement for five months at Evin Prison.
In July 2024, Azizi was sentenced to death on charges of "armed rebellion against the state" and "membership in opposition groups," alongside a four-year prison sentence for alleged membership in the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) - charges she denies.
Her lawyer announced last week that the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence, dismissing an appeal that highlighted multiple investigative flaws and the absence of credible evidence.
"Accusing Pakhshan Azizi of criminal actions such as belonging to an insurgent group not only lacks any legal or evidentiary basis in her case, but even if she had belonged to such a group, she was arrested unarmed, had never used weapons, and even when she was in the Kurdish region of Syria, she was at risk of ISIS attacks," Azizi's lawyer, Amir Raisian, told Tehran-based Shargh newspaper in an interview.
"She had no conflict with Iranian forces in Syria, Iraq or Iran, which demonstrates that this sentence contradicts the judicial policies claimed to be followed."
The experts also said that Azizi's arrest and subsequent sentencing appeared to be directly linked to her legitimate work as a social worker, including her support for refugees in Iraq and Syria.
In a letter from prison in July last year, Azizi described instances of torture during her interrogations. The UN experts expressed alarm over these reports, saying she faced psychological and physical abuse amounting to torture during her solitary confinement as part of authorities' attempt to force a confession.
Additionally, several members of her family were temporarily detained and faced national security charges, moves the experts said aimed to force a confession.
“The use of torture to extract confessions and the denial of fair trial rights render the death sentence against Ms. Azizi arbitrary in nature,” they said.
The acting US Special Envoy for Iran Abram Paley also weighed in, calling for the immediate overturning of Azizi's death sentence.
"The regime must stop targeting Iran’s Kurdish minorities and using capital punishment to silence peaceful opposition," Paley said in a post on X.
