Verisheh Moradi (also transliterated as Wirishe Moradi or Warisha Moradi; , ) is a

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

political prisoner and women's rights activist sentenced to death by the state of Iran. She was arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence in

Sanandaj Sanandaj (; ) is a city in the Central District of Sanandaj County, in the Kurdistan province of Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. With a population of 414,069, it is the second largest Kurdish city a ...

on 1 August 2023 and imprisoned in

Evin Prison Evin Prison () is a prison located in the Evin neighborhood of Tehran, Iran. The prison has been the primary site for detaining Iran's political prisoners since 1972, before and after the Iranian Revolution, in a purpose-built wing nicknamed "E ...

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

. In February 2024, Moradi was formally charged with "baghi", armed rebellion against the state, due to her association with Kurdish opposition groups. In November 2024, Branch Fifteen of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran sentenced Moradi to death.

Before arrest

In 2014, Moradi was injured in an armed conflict between IS armed groups and Kurdish armed groups in the Kurdish-majority town of

Kobani Kobani, also Kobane, officially Ayn al-Arab, is a Kurdish-majority city in the Ayn al-Arab District in northern Syria, lying immediately south of the Syria–Turkey border. As a consequence of the Syrian civil war, the city came under the con ...

, located in

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. She has been an influential member of the Kurdish and women's rights activist group Free Women's Society of East Kurdistan or KJAR (''Komelgeha Jinên Azad a Rojhelatê Kurdistanê).''

Arrest and detainment

Moradi was arrested on 1 August 2023 while traveling by car into Sanandaj as she returned from

Kermanshah Kermanshah is a city in the Central District (Kermanshah County), Central District of Kermanshah province, Kermanshah province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. The city is from Tehran in the western pa ...

, where she had been involved in political activities. In an open letter written by Moradi in August 2024, she described agents of the Ministry of Intelligence shooting at the vehicle she was in, then physically assaulting her. Moradi was subsequently detained at the Sanandaj Intelligence Department’s detention center where she was interrogated. After thirteen days, she was transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison in Tehran, where she was detained in

solitary confinement Solitary confinement (also shortened to solitary) is a form of imprisonment in which an incarcerated person lives in a single Prison cell, cell with little or no contact with other people. It is a punitive tool used within the prison system to ...

for five months. On 26 December 2023, she was transferred out of solitary confinement and into the women's ward of the same prison. In November 2024, the Revolutionary Court sentenced Moradi to death on the charge of "armed rebellion against the state".

Responses to arrest and death sentence

Several international activist groups and individuals have come out in support of Moradi. The human rights organization

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

began a campaign to free Moradi by publishing an open letter to Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, Chief Justice of Iran. In November 2024, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network issued a joint statement with 17 other human rights organizations calling for the annulment of the death sentences of Verisheh Moradi and fellow Iranian political prisoner Pakhshan Azizi. Other signatories include United4Iran,

PEN America PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922, and headquartered in New York City, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose goal is to raise awareness for the protection of free expression in the United States and worldwide th ...

Mehrangiz Kar Mehrangiz Kar (; born 10 October 1944 Ahvaz, Iran), a human rights lawyer from Iran, is an internationally recognized writer, speaker and activist who advocates for the defense of women’s and human rights in Iran and throughout the Islamic worl ...

, and the Kurdistan Human Rights Association-Geneva (KMMK-G).

References

{{Authority control 21st-century Iranian people 21st-century Iranian women 21st-century Kurdish people 21st-century Kurdish women Iranian Kurdish people Iranian Kurdish women Iranian prisoners sentenced to death Iranian women's rights activists Kurdish women's rights activists Prisoners sentenced to death by Iran