Pakhshan Azizi at Imminent Risk of Execution as Supreme Court Rejects Retrial Request
Hengaw: Thursday, February 6, 2025
The Supreme Court of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Branch 9) has rejected the retrial request for Pakhshan Azizi, a Kurdish political prisoner, placing her at imminent risk of execution.
According to reports received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, following the court’s decision, Azizi’s case has been transferred to the Sentence Enforcement Office, significantly increasing the likelihood of her execution.
Amir Raeisian, the lawyer of Pakhshan Azizi, referring to the revocation of the suspension of the execution order as of February 1, stated that Branch Nine of the Supreme Court “rejected our request for retrial on the grounds that the objections raised against the verdict and trial proceedings were substantive in nature.”
Raeisian, announcing that they would submit a new request for retrial, added: “Meanwhile, the specialized working group of the Supreme Court’s criminal branches, in March 2024, with a majority opinion, declared that the examination of Clause 4 of Article 474 of the Code of Criminal Procedure—regarding the non-criminal nature of the act committed by the convicted individual, which was the main basis of our retrial request—is one of the grounds for retrial. The Supreme Court branches, when reviewing retrial requests, can authorize a retrial if they determine the absence of any of the three essential elements constituting a crime. This opinion is directly related to the Supreme Court branches’ obligation to consider the substantive defenses raised in the retrial request.”
Hengaw previously denied reports claiming that Azizi’s execution had been postponed, stating that such claims were false and deliberately spread to mislead the public and discourage widespread strike in Kurdistan.
Raeisian had previously criticized the confirmation of Pakhshan Azizi’s death sentence by Branch 39 of the Supreme Court, stating: “There was a disregard for investigative shortcomings as well as for key evidence and documents that clearly showed Ms. Azizi’s case did not warrant a death sentence. Her activities in northern Syria, including her work in the Sinjar refugee camp and other camps for those displaced by the ISIS war, were entirely humanitarian. They had no political dimension whatsoever and were focused solely on providing aid in response to ISIS attacks. Yet, none of this was taken into account.”
On June 14, 2024, Azizi, a journalist, was sentenced to death on charges of “rebellion” (Baghy). In addition to the death sentence, she later received an additional six-month prison sentence for “causing unrest in prison,” issued by Branch 3 of the Evin Prosecutor’s Office.
She was arrested on August 4, 2023, in Tehran’s Kharazi neighborhood by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence. On December 11, 2023, she was transferred from Ward 209 of Evin Prison known as Intelligence Ministry detention facility, to the prison’s women’s ward.
Azizi was first arrested on November 16, 2009, during a student protest at the University of Tehran against the execution of Kurdish political prisoners. She was detained for four months before being released on March 19, 2010, on a 100-million-toman bail.
Due to persistent threats and pressure from Iranian security forces, she was eventually forced to leave Iran. She later engaged in research and social work aimed at improving women’s conditions in Iraqi Kurdistan and Syrian Kurdistan.
