Women Activists Increasingly Sentenced to Death as Political Executions in Iran Surge
Four Women Slammed with Bogus Political Charges That Carry the Death Penalty
Women Subjected to Torture, Mock Executions, Forced Confessions, Denial of Counsel
July 30, 2024 – Multiple women political prisoners are at risk of execution based on sham charges, as the number of executions across Iran continues to surge, according to the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). The four women have been accused of manufactured charges such as “armed rebellion,” a charge often used by authorities against political prisoners and dissidents, which carries the death sentence.
Pekhshan Azizi, a Kurdish women’s rights activist and social worker, is the second woman political prisoner to have been sentenced to death in July for her peaceful activism, following labor activist Sharifeh Mohammadi. Two other women activists, Varisheh Moradi and Nasim Gholami Simiyari, are at risk of receiving a death sentence after being charged with “armed rebellion.” Moradi and Simiyari’s verdicts are pending.
“Faced with a women’s movement in Iran that refuses to back down, Islamic Republic authorities are now trying to threaten these women with the gallows, in a desperate attempt to silence dissent,” said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).
“Imprisoned women activists in Iran are bravely protesting these unlawful death sentences from within their cells, at great risk to themselves,” said Ghaemi. “The international community must match their courage and demand an immediate end to these executions before it is too late.”
CHRI urges the international community to call on the Iranian authorities to:
- Immediately overturn all death sentences against political prisoners, including Pakhshan Azizi and Sharifeh Mohammadi.
- Halt all executions and the issuance of death sentences, given the systemic violations of due process endemic to the Islamic Republic’s capital punishment practices.
- End the violent repression and unlawful prosecution of women activists, who are being brutally targeted for their activism.
Saeid Dehghan, a prominent Iranian human rights lawyer and founder of the Parsi Law Collective, noted, “These four women are facing charges of ‘rebellion,’ yet they did not possess any weapons, and no weapons have been seized or recorded in their case. The activities of these citizens were civil in nature and had no connection to a rebellion against the ‘foundation of the Islamic Republic,’ let alone being armed to justify the charge of rebellion.”
Since the beginning of 2024, at least 295 people have been executed, averaging nearly ten executions per week in the first seven months of the year. The number of executions in 2023 reached its highest level since 2015, with at least 834 executions recorded, according to Iran Human Rights.
Two of the four women, Pekhshan Azizi and Varisheh Moradi, are known to be members of Iran’s Kurdish ethnic minority, reflecting the Islamic Republic’s continued disproportionate use of the death penalty against the country’s minorities, especially the ethnic communities in Kurdistan and in Sistan and Baluchistan.
A group of Iranian political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, have been protesting against the surge in death sentences from inside Tehran’s Evin Prison. “We call on everyone to join their voices with the female political and ideological prisoners,” they said in a statement on July 24.
Inmates at Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, Alborz Province, also protested against Pakhshan Azizi’s death sentence. They have been holding a hunger strike every Tuesday since the execution of four Kurdish political prisoners in January 2024, demanding an end to the death penalty. Since then, prisoners in at least 16 other prisons across Iran have joined the “No Execution Tuesdays” campaign.
Pakhshan Azizi, Kurdish Social Worker Detained with Gun to Head
Azizi was sentenced to death on the charge of “armed rebellion against the state” by Branch 26 of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court and sentenced to four years in prison for alleged membership in the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), an accusation which her lawyers have denied. The verdict was communicated to her legal team on July 23.
“The death sentence was issued on the charge of ‘baghi’ (rebellion), claiming that Ms. Azizi engaged in armed activities [against the Islamic Republic] on behalf of a rebellious group. However, Ms. Azizi not only did not participate in any armed operations, but she has also been in Iraq and Syria for the past seven years, where she has been helping refugees and those affected by the violence as a social worker after the atrocities committed by ISIS since 2015,” Amir Raesian, one of the lawyers working on Azizi’s case, told Shargh Daily on July 24.
“The ruling does not even mention any involvement of Ms. Azizi in military operations or conflicts with any Iranian state or non-state actors,” said Raesian.
The lower court ruling is expected to be appealed by Azizi’s lawyers.
Azizi’s brother, Assa Azizi, said that three family members have been sentenced to imprisonment without specifying on what charges. Additionally, Azizi has been denied visits or contact with her family for over two weeks.
In a letter published in July 2024, Azizi detailed instances of torture and harassment during her detention, including being subjected to mock executions.
“Humiliation and threats filled the air in the worst physical and mental conditions resulting from prolonged hunger strikes and five months of solitary confinement (the most dreadful white torture) … The same cell where [I] had been held in 2009 for the same charges of ‘being Kurdish’ and ‘being a woman.’” wrote Azizi.
Azizi, a resident of Mahabad, was arrested at her home in Tehran on August 4, 2023, by state security forces who held a gun to her head, according to her account. During her detention, she was denied legal counsel and subjected to torture to extract false confessions—a routine tactic used by the Islamic Republic against activists.
Azizi was previously arrested in November 2009 during a protest by Kurdish students at Tehran University, protesting against politically motivated executions in Kurdistan, including the execution of 28-year-old Kurdish political prisoner Ehsan Fattahian.
Sharifeh Mohammadi, Tortured Labor Activist and Mother of 12-Year-Old
Sharifeh Mohammadi, a 45-year-old industrial design engineer and independent labor activist, was sentenced to death on July 4, 2024, by Branch 1 of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court in Rasht, presided over by Judge Ahmad Darvish Goftar.
The court stated that Mohammadi had been convicted of “armed rebellion against the state” due to alleged membership in the national Labor Unions Assistance Coordination Committee (LUACC), which operates legally in Iran, and her alleged membership in the banned Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan.
Human rights lawyer Dehghan stressed that regarding her membership in the Coordination Committee to Aid the Formation of Workers’ Organizations, “this committee was authorized by the previous government during Ahmadinejad’s presidency and was not illegal. Moreover, civil and organizational activities within a workers’ committee, which ultimately rely on written or verbal communication, cannot lead to a charge of ‘rebellion’ against the ‘foundation of the Islamic Republic.’”
Dehghan added that “protesting against poverty, discrimination, corruption, and injustice by Mohammadi does not conflict with the “foundation of the regime” in a way that would justify a death sentence for a labor activist, and noted that the claim of membership in forming a party like Komala was “absurd, as this party was established years before Sharifeh’s birth.”
Mohammadi and her family have vehemently denied her membership in either organization.
The married mother of a 12-year-old son, Mohammadi, was arrested on December 5, 2023, by Ministry of Intelligence agents and held incommunicado for months, with her family being denied any information about her status or location.
According to her family, she was tortured in prison following her arrest and spent several months in solitary confinement.
The lower court ruling is expected to be appealed by Mohammadi’s lawyer.
Varisheh Moradi, Kurdish Activist Denied Lawyer During Trial
Varisheh Moradi, a Kurdish political activist, was violently detained on August 1, 2023, by Ministry of Intelligence agents. She spent 13 days at a security detention center in Sanandaj in Kurdistan province, where she was pressured and threatened into making forced confessions. She was then transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison in Tehran, where she spent nearly five months in solitary confinement before being transferred to the women’s ward of Evin prison.
On June 16, 2024, Moradi went on trial in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran on the charge of “rebellion,” which carries the death penalty.
A source familiar with the case told CHRI that presiding Judge Abolqasem Salavati, a notorious hardline judge nicknamed “the Hanging Judge” for handing down death sentences in political cases, did not allow Moradi or her lawyers to present a defense.
“Since a month ago, Judge Salavati has denied Moradi the right to contact and receive visits from family members and lawyers,” the source added.
In May 2024, Varisheh Moradi and Pakshan Azizi held a two-day hunger strike to protest their prolonged detention and the behavior of prison authorities.
Nasim Gholami Simiyari, Protester Tortured and Forced to Confess
Nasim Gholami Simiyari, a 36 years old protester, was charged with “assembly and collusion against national security,” “propaganda against the regime,” and “armed rebellion” by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari, on June 30, 2024.
Simiyari denied all charges during her court session, stating that her confessions were coerced through torture and prolonged solitary confinement.
Simiyari was arrested on May 18, 2023, by IRGC intelligence agents in Tehran during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests.
“She was subjected to psychological and physical torture during her detention, and forced confessions were obtained from her in front of a camera at the detention facility. The confessions were dictated and forced by the interrogator,” a friend of Simiyari told HRANA.
Simiyari is part of a joint case with seven other defendants: Hamidreza Sahlabadi, Ehsan Ravajiyan, Amin Sokhanvar, Ali Harati Mokhtari, Hossein Mohammad Hosseini, Amir Shah Velayati, and Hossein Ardestani.
Executions of Minority Activists Also Continue to Surge
At the same time that the Islamic Republic has escalated its use of the death penalty against women activists, it has continued to target minority activists for the death penalty. Three Kurdish protesters—Raouf Sheikh Maroofi, Kamran Soltani, and Mohammad Faraji—have been charged with “corruption on earth” and “armed rebellion.” They are awaiting a verdict from Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Mahabad, where such charges could lead to the death penalty.
According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, the three men were arrested by security forces during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement and have endured severe physical and psychological torture while in detention.
The Islamic Republic frequently uses vaguely defined and politically motivated charges, such as “corruption on earth” and “armed rebellion,” against protesters, which can result in the death penalty.
“As Masoud Pezeshkian assumes the presidency of Iran, global leaders must remain vigilant, and ensure that the Islamic Republic’s severe and systematic human rights abuses remain front and center in all dealings with the authorities in Iran,” Ghaemi stressed.
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