Maziar Tataei, Pakhshan Azizi’s lawyer, announced that the Supreme Court of Iran rejected his client’s second request for a retrial. According to Tataei, the reviewing branch dismissed the request as lacking legal merit without examining the case file or considering the defenses presented by the lawyers. In a post on his X account, he wrote: “This manner of handling the case, without requesting the file, reinforces suspicions of a disregard for justice.”
Pakhshan Azizi was sentenced to death on July 24, 2024, by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari, on charges of “rebellion” (baghi) and “membership in a Kurdish party opposing the regime.” The verdict was upheld by Branch 39 of the Supreme Court on January 8, 2025, and her first request for a retrial was rejected on January 25, 2025.
She has also been sentenced to four years of imprisonment with hard labor on the charge of “membership in opposition groups.” Azizi has been in detention since July 2023 and, during the first eight months of her interrogation, was denied access to a lawyer and family visits.
Meanwhile, three members of her family—her father (Aziz Azizi), her sister (Parshang Azizi), and her brother-in-law (Hossein Abbasi)—have each been sentenced to one year of imprisonment with hard labor on charges of “aiding a criminal.” These sentences were confirmed in October 2024.
In an open letter published from Evin Prison on July 22, 2024, Pakhshan Azizi expressed concerns about the torture she endured during detention and the inhumane conditions of solitary confinement. In the letter, she also highlighted the double discrimination she has faced as a result of being a “woman” and a “Kurd.”
