Statement from 30 Human Rights Organizations: Discrimination Against Women and Gender Minorities Must End

Thirty international human rights organizations, including several Iranian entities, issued a statement on the occasion of International Women's Day, calling for the recognition of the "voices and experiences of women and gender minorities" who are imprisoned. These organizations announced on Friday, March 8, that women, gender minorities, and individuals with gender diversity who are "trapped behind bars in racist, classist, and patriarchal legal systems around the world" must be the focus of attention. The statement also referred to the "attacks on the rights of women and gender minorities" and noted that the death penalty "unjustly and discriminatorily targets minorities." The organizations stated that executions are carried out "arbitrarily and inhumanely" in some countries, asserting that this punishment "has no place in any of our societies." Seventeen human rights organizations wrote a letter to save the lives of Pakhshan Azizi and Varisheh Moradi. The Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation, a collection of human rights activists in Iran, the Iran Human Rights Organization, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, the International Criminal Justice Reform Organization, and the Justice Project on the Death Penalty are among the signatories of this statement. This statement comes as pressure from various institutions of the Islamic Republic on women in Iran has increased following the "Women, Life, Freedom" protests, and many women's rights activists have been sentenced to heavy prison terms. Additionally, some political prisoners, such as Varisheh Moradi, Pakhshan Azizi, and Sharifeh Mohammadi, are facing the risk of execution. In this context, 17 human rights organizations on March 4 sent an open letter to the Federal Government of Germany, the European Parliament, and the United Nations, calling for international support to save the lives of Varisheh Moradi and Pakhshan Azizi. In this letter, these human rights organizations emphasized that the death sentences for Varisheh Moradi and Pakhshan Azizi not only target their lives but also constitute a violation of the fundamental rights of women, minorities, and activists worldwide. Pakhshan Azizi had previously worked as a caregiver in Syria, assisting Yazidi women who had escaped from ISIS. According to her lawyer, the appellate judge upheld her death sentence based on this "misconception" that Ms. Azizi was a member of ISIS. The judiciary of the Islamic Republic has also sentenced Varisheh Moradi to death on charges of "membership in armed groups opposing the Iranian government," a charge that she and her lawyer have denied.