Iran Sentencing Four Individuals Seeking to Save Pakhshan Azizi from Death Sentence, Including Three Family Members
Hengaw, Friday, September 27, 2024
Aziz Azizi, Pershang Azizi, and Hossein Abbasi—father, sister, and brother-in-law of Pakshan Azizi—along with another individual named Ayoub Anisi Yengjeh, have been sentenced to imprisonment in connection with the case of the Kurdish political prisoner Pakshan Azizi, who is sentenced to death.
According to a report received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, on September 22, 2024, Branch 36 of the Tehran Court of Appeals declared the one-year prison sentence of Aziz Azizi, 67, Pershang Azizi, 48, and Hossein Abbasi, 48, and the two-year prison sentence of Ayoub Anisi Yengjeh approved and final.
In late July of this year, Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari, had sentenced Pakshan Azizi’s father, sister, and brother-in-law to one year in prison on charges of “assisting a criminal to be spared of trial and conviction,” and Ayoub Anisi Yengjeh to two years in prison for “gathering and conspiring to commit a crime against internal security.”
The Campaign for Freedom of Pakshan Azizi has stated that the confirmation of these sentences comes despite all individuals being convicted in the same case, which has been submitted to the Supreme Court as part of the appeal process initiated by their lawyers.
On Wednesday, August 14, 2024, Pakshan Azizi, a political prisoner from Mahabad who was sentenced to death for rebellion and has been imprisoned in Evin for over a year, was charged with “rioting in prison” in a new case opened in Evin’s Third Branch Prosecutor’s Office, allegedly in connection with the presidential elections.
Hengaw previously reported that as of July 5, 2024, coinciding with the second round of the 14th presidential election in Iran, Pakshan Azizi has been deprived of all phone call rights and even in-person visits with her family and lawyers.
In early August of this year, Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari, sentenced Pakshan Azizi to death for the charge of “rebellion” through “membership in groups that have taken up arms against the Islamic State,” and sentenced her to four years in prison on the charge of membership in PJAK.
Pakshan Azizi was arrested by Ministry of Intelligence forces on August 4, 2023, in Kharrazi Town, Tehran. On December 11, 2023, she was transferred from Ward 209 of Evin Prison, known as the Intelligence Detention Center, to the women’s ward of Evin Prison.
