The Iranian regime’s Supreme Court rejected the second appeal for a retrial by political prisoner Pakhshan Azizi. According to her lawyer, the court’s dismissal of the appeal was issued without reviewing her case files or considering the legal arguments presented by her defense team.
Maziyar Tataei, Pakhshan Azizi’s lawyer, announced the news on the social media platform X, stating that the Supreme Court branch handling the case rejected the retrial petition without even requesting the original trial documents. He added that the court labeled the defense arguments as “unsubstantiated” despite not having examined the case materials.
He wrote: “The branch that reviewed the appeal dismissed the defense without examining the trial records. Such a ruling inherently requires examination of the case file, which unfortunately was never requested.”
Ms. Azizi’s first request was rejected on February 6, 2025, by the ninth chamber of the Supreme Court.
Azizi was initially sentenced to death on July 23, 2024, on charges of bagh-ye (armed rebellion). Subsequently, she faced a separate case opened by the Evin Prosecutor’s Office, under accusations of “rioting in prison,” for which she received an additional six-month prison sentence.
The Supreme Court’s 39th chamber officially upheld her death sentence in January 2025.
About Political Prisoner Pakhshan Azizi
Pakhshan Azizi was arrested on August 4, 2023, in Shahrak-e Kharrazi, Tehran. Intelligence agents immediately took her to the Intelligence Ministry Ward 209 in Evin Prison.
A graduate of Social Work from Tehran University, she was deprived of having contact or visits with her family and of having access to legal representation.
Pakhshan Azizi was previously arrested on November 16, 2009, during a Kurdish student protest at Tehran University, which was staged against the execution of political prisoners in Kurdistan. She was subsequently released on bail on March 19, 2010.
