Responding to reports that Iran\u2019s Supreme Court rejected the request for judicial review of the conviction and death sentence of humanitarian aid worker Pakhshan Azizi, 40, from Iran\u2019s oppressed Kurdish ethnic minority, Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International\u2019s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe international community must immediately urge the Iranian authorities to halt the execution of arbitrarily detained humanitarian aid worker Pakhshan Azizi, who was sentenced to death following a grossly unfair trial before a Revolutionary Court last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPakhshan Azizi was detained solely in relation to her peaceful human rights and humanitarian activities, including providing humanitarian support to women and children in northeast Syria who were displaced following attacks by the Islamic State armed group. Instead of facing imminent execution she should be immediately and unconditionally released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThe international community must immediately urge the Iranian authorities to halt the execution of arbitrarily detained humanitarian aid worker Pakhshan Azizi, who was sentenced to death following a grossly unfair trial Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Supreme Court\u2019s decision to reject her request for judicial review highlights yet again how the Iranian authorities remain adamantly resolved to use death penalty as a tool of political repression to instil fear among the population. In a media interview one of her lawyers, Amir Raesian, said he was notified of the decision on 5 February, adding that her execution could now be carried out at any moment. He also noted that shocking errors made in the case by the lower court were repeated in the Supreme Court\u2019s verdict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe death penalty is abhorrent in all circumstances; but imposing it after a grossly unfair trial before a Revolutionary Court, in which Pakhshan Azizi\u2019s allegations of torture and other ill-treatment, including gender-based violence, have gone uninvestigated, renders its use arbitrary and illustrates yet again the Iranian authorities\u2019 shameless disregard for the right to life. Governments worldwide must speak out loudly now against this injustice to halt Pakhshan Azizi\u2019s execution before it is too late.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Background<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran sentenced Pakhshan Azizi to death in July 2024. She was convicted of \u201carmed rebellion against the state\u201d (baghi<\/em>) solely in relation to her peaceful human rights and humanitarian activities. For instance, between 2014 and 2022 she was involved in providing humanitarian support to women and children displaced following attacks by the Islamic State armed group (IS) and sheltering in camps in northeast Syria and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. In early January 2025, the Supreme Court upheld her conviction and death sentence. Her request for judicial review was subsequently rejected by Branch Nine of the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 4 August 2023, Ministry of Intelligence agents arbitrarily arrested Pakhshan Azizi in Tehran and transferred her to section 209 of Tehran\u2019s Evin prison, which is under the control of the Ministry of Intelligence and held her in prolonged solitary confinement for five months without access to a lawyer and her family. According to informed sources, during this time Pakhshan Azizi was subjected to torture and other ill-treatment during interrogations. Agents repeatedly told her that she had no right to live and threatened to execute her. They also subjected her to gender-based violence in order to compel her to make forced \u201cconfessions\u201d of having ties to Kurdish opposition groups, which she repeatedly denied. In early December 2023, she was transferred to the women\u2019s ward of Evin prison, where she remains held.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty unconditionally, in all cases and under any circumstances.<\/p>\n