Pakhshan Azizi, Political Prisoner, Sentenced to Death by Tehran Revolutionary Court

Human rights sources in Iran report that Pakhshan Azizi, a social worker and political prisoner, has been sentenced to death by the Tehran Revolutionary Court presided over by Iman Afshari. The Hengaw human rights news agency announced on Tuesday, July 23, that Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court issued this ruling against Ms. Azizi. This branch stated that the accusation against this social worker is 'Baghi' through 'membership in groups that have engaged in armed uprising against the Islamic government.' Accordingly, this ruling was communicated to Pakhshan Azizi's lawyers on Monday. Human Rights Watch has stated that the judiciary should start 'real changes' by halting death sentences. The hearings for Ms. Azizi's case were held on June 17 and 18 of this year. The Harana human rights news agency also reported that this ruling was issued while this political prisoner has spent 'four months' in solitary confinement and has been deprived of 'access to a chosen lawyer and the possibility of meeting with her family' for an extended period. Pakhshan Azizi was arrested on August 4 last year in Kharazi Town, Tehran, by the forces of the Islamic Republic's Ministry of Intelligence and was later transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison. In recent years, the Islamic Republic has sentenced many civil activists and Iranian protesters to death on charges of 'Baghi,' meaning 'armed rebellion against the regime.' In one of the latest cases, Sharifeh Mohammadi, a labor activist, was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court in Rasht for 'membership in an independent labor organization.' Recently, Tomaj Salehi, a protest singer, was also sentenced to death on the charge of Baghi, a ruling that sparked widespread domestic and international protests, leading the Supreme Court in Iran to eventually overturn this death sentence. The issuance of these sentences comes at a time when prisoners of the 'Tuesdays No to Execution' campaign warned in mid-July, during the twenty-fourth week of their hunger strike, about the potential increase in executions following the elections. These prisoners, scattered across various prisons in the country, noted that the experience of increased executions after each of the past elections in the Islamic Republic makes the issuance of the death sentence for Sharifeh Mohammadi, a labor activist, and the arrest of Rana Kukur, the sister of a political prisoner sentenced to death, a sign of this 'worrisome' trend.