Pakhshan Azizi, a Kurdish activist charges with “armed insurrection” (baghi), has been denied the right to contact or visit her family for two weeks while held in Tehran’s Evin Prison, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) reported.

Azizi, a social work graduate from Tehran’s Allameh Tabataba’i University, has been denied these rights since 6 July by order of the prison’s disciplinary council.

She was informed of the decision after it was issued, but no reasons were given for the deprivation or its duration.

Azizi, from Mahabad, West Azerbaijan Province, was arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence in Tehran on 4 August 2023 and taken to Ward 209 of Evin Prison.

Several of her family members were arrested at the same time, but released after several days of interrogation.

During her detention, Azizi was denied legal representation and subjected to pressure and torture to extract forced confessions.

On 11 December 2023, she was transferred from Ward 209 to the women’s ward of Evin Prison.

The Kurdish activist’s trial took place on 28 May and 16 June in Branch 26 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari.

The charges of “armed insurrection” (baghi) and the subsequent court hearings have heightened fears of a harsh sentence.

Azizi has a history of prior arrests by the security forces. She was first arrested by security forces on 16 November 2009 during a gathering of Kurdish students at Tehran University to protest against politically motivated executions in Kurdistan, and was released on bail after four months.

She had been living in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq for the past few years.