The Tehran regime uses executions as a tool of repression. By increasingly resorting to the death penalty, the authorities are intensifying their terror against the rebellious population. The international community must act effectively and significantly increase pressure on the regime to prevent further executions.
At the beginning of July, Iranian human rights activist Sharifeh Mohammadi was sentenced to death in the northern Iranian city of Rasht. She has been imprisoned in the Lakan Prison of Rasht for seven months and now faces imminent execution. Human rights groups have appealed to the UN to intervene for the annulment of the death sentence and the release of the activist.
Sharifeh Mohammadi has been actively advocating for workers’ rights and the release of imprisoned union members within the Free Union of Workers in Iran. She was sentenced to death by the regime’s judiciary, which serves as a tool of oppression, on fabricated and baseless charges of “endangering state security.”
The Iranian regime is ruthlessly targeting women who fight for human rights. No other country has seen as many women imprisoned, tortured, and executed in recent years as in Iran. The regime’s extreme misogyny is evident in its harsh punishment of an increasing number of female activists.
Sharifeh Mohammadi was brutally tortured in prison to force her to incriminate herself on camera with false “confessions.” Family visits were denied, and she has been unable to see her husband and child for the past several months.
In Iran, executions are a means of terror used by the regime against the population. The trials that lead to death sentences are arbitrary and unlawful, never adhering to international legal standards. The accused are denied access to legal counsel of their choice.
Brutal Repression: Tehran Regime Sentences Social Worker to Death
Iranian social worker Pakhshan Azizi was sentenced to death in Tehran at the end of July. The Tehran judiciary, serving as an instrument of repression for the regime, accused the political prisoner of belonging to anti-regime resistance groups on flimsy grounds. No evidence was presented to support these allegations. Human rights activists describe the death sentence as another attempt by the regime to suppress the large protest movement led by Iranian women.
Pakhshan Azizi, originally from Iranian Kurdistan, worked as a social worker in crisis areas in northern Iraq and Syria after graduating from university in Tehran. She was particularly active in supporting refugees. Last year, she returned to Iran.
On August 4, 2023, she was arrested by regime agents in Tehran and taken to Section 209 of Tehran’s Evin Prison, which is controlled by the intelligence service. There, she was subjected to severe physical and psychological torture, including mock executions. She was denied access to legal counsel, and since early July, she has also been prohibited from contacting her family.
The Iranian regime is ruthlessly targeting women who fight for human rights. No other country has seen as many women imprisoned, tortured, and executed in recent years as in Iran. Human rights activists are calling on the international community to intervene on behalf of Pakhshan Azizi, who is facing imminent execution.
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