Following the Tehran Islamic Revolutionary Court’s announcement of Pakhshan Azizi’s death sentence, her lawyers, who maintain that there is no evidence of her engaging in armed actions against the Iranian state, have stated that they are preparing an appeal and will formally contest the ruling.
Lawyers Maziar Tatai and Amir Raisian, representing the Kurdish women activist imprisoned in Evin prison, spoke with Sharghdaily.
Raisian stated that the death sentence against Pakhshan Azizi was issued on charges related to the Kurdish Free Life Party (PJAK). Azizi is alleged to have engaged in armed activities for the rebel group. However, Raisian emphasised that Azizi had not participated in any armed operations. For the past seven years, she has been in Iraq and Syria assisting war refugees in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava), who were displaced by ISIS war crimes.
He further noted that the verdict does not mention any specific military operations or conflicts with the Iranian government involving Azizi.
Maziar Tatai, another of Azizi’s lawyers, stated: “The ruling merely claims she travelled armed in Iraq and Syria, and participated in the civil wars of Syria.” It is unclear, according to Tatiai, how Azizi, described as a lecturer in women’s studies, could be involved in any armed action.
“Even if there is a photograph of her with a weapon in an area attacked by ISIS, it is difficult to see how carrying a weapon in Syria during ISIS’s crimes, in a region without Iranian forces, constitutes military and armed action against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” argued Tatai.
Both lawyers expressed their hope that Azizi’s death sentence would be overturned.
In a previous letter from prison, Azizi documented the use of severe torture against her by agents of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence. This torture, which occurred during her five months in solitary confinement, included beatings which caused heavy bleeding, and the use of staged executions against her.
