Iranian Women Human Rights Defenders, Iran
We Pakhshan Azizi, Verisheh Moradi, and Sharifeh Mohammadi, are each facing death sentences in Iran for being women human rights defenders.
I am Pakhshan Azizi, born on August 7, 1984, in Iran to a Kurdish family. I worked as a humanitarian in northeast Syria, helping those displaced by ISIS.
On August 4, 2023, I was arbitrarily arrested and held in solitary confinement for five months, subjected to mental and physical abuse, treated in a cruel, degrading and inhumane manner. Also, I was denied my fundamental legal rights including access to legal representation as well as visitation from my lawyer and family. Additionally, on July 23, 2024, I was charged with "baghi" (armed insurrection) and sentenced me to death.
On 8 January 2025, my appeal was rejected due to a wrongful claim that I was linked to ISIS—when I was helping its victims. This blatant injustice not only puts my life at risk but has distorted the very work I dedicated myself to.
I am Verisheh Moradi, a Kurdish political prisoner sentenced to death in Iran. On August 1, 2023, I was arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence and taken to Evin Prison. In November 2024, I was sentenced to death charged with "baghi" (armed rebellion).
My arrest was violent. Intelligence agents shot at the car I was in, then physically assaulted me. After 13 days of interrogation, I was held in solitary confinement for five months. The pain of injustice and isolation still lingers, but this fight is bigger than me, it’s for all whose voices have been silenced.
I am Sharifeh Mohammadi, an Iranian labor rights activist, sentenced to death—again. My initial death sentence was overturned by Iran’s Supreme Court on October 12, 2024, and my case was sent back for retrial. But instead of justice, the court reinstated my sentence. The judge overseeing my retrial is the son of the one who sentenced me the first time—proof of a system designed not for fairness, but for silencing voices like mine.
The charges against me are baseless, tied to my work with a legal labor organisation over a decade ago. I was arrested on December 5, 2023, held in solitary confinement for 26 days, and denied access to my lawyer. I was allowed only two phone calls—one to my 11-year-old son. Now in Lakan Prison, I wait for justice that feels out of reach.
Our stories are just three among countless others. The rise in politically motivated death sentences has shaken Iranian civil society to its core. Stand as our witness. Be our voice. Demand an end to the death penalty and the criminalisation of peaceful activism in Iran.
Iran is a closed civic space, according to the CIVICUS Monitor.
