Political women prisoners in the high-security Evin Prison in the Iranian capital Tehran, including 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who has been imprisoned since 2021, refused to enter their wards in the evening on 27 July to protest the death sentence handed down to journalist Pakshan Azizi who is held in the same prison.

Pakhshan Azizi, a Kurdish activist who has been detained for almost a year, was sentenced to death by the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran on charges of “armed insurrection” (baghi) through membership of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK). Following the verdict, women political prisoners in Evin Prison staged a sit-in protest in the prison yard for several hours.

A statement by Narges Mohammadi, posted on her social media account on 24 July said: “The women in Evin Prison are saying in unison: ‘we demand an immediate halt to the execution of Pakshan Azizi. We call on everyone to make their voices heard together with women political and ideological prisoners’.”

In the meantime, the applications submitted by Pakshan Azizi’s lawyers' for a visit to their client were also rejected.

Pakshan Azizi’s brother Aso Azizi announced on the social media that his sister was denied family and lawyer visits for three weeks.