Two Kurdish women, Pakhshan Azizi and Warisha Moradi, are facing imminent execution in Iran, raising concerns about the country’s use of the death penalty to suppress dissent and target minorities, according to Human Rights Watch.
On January 8, 2025, the Iranian Supreme Court upheld Azizi’s death sentence for alleged connections to the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) and “armed rebellion against the state.” Her lawyer, Amir Raesian, pointed out significant legal flaws in the case. Azizi was arrested in August 2023 along with family members—who were later released on bail—and spent months without access to legal counsel or her family before her sentencing in July 2024. This decision led to protests, with over 3,400 people, including activists and artists, denouncing the ruling.
Moradi, a member of the Free Women’s Society of Eastern Kurdistan, was arrested in Sanandaj in August 2023 and endured five months of solitary confinement and torture in Evin Prison. She was denied a fair defense during her trial, and her death sentence was confirmed in November 2024.
Critics, including human rights activist Atena Daemi and filmmaker Jafar Panahi, have condemned Iran’s increasing use of executions. In 2024, at least 901 people were executed, with a growing number of women among them, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Human rights organizations are urging the international community to pressure Iran to stop executions, especially those targeting political activists. Nahid Naghshbandi of Human Rights Watch stressed that these actions are intended to instill fear and silence dissent.
The cases of Azizi and Moradi underscore the severe human rights crisis in Iran, as authorities continue to misuse the death penalty against marginalized groups and political dissidents.
