The Burn The Cage/Free the Birds movement in Europe summed up the background and significance of the fight to free Nahid Taghavi, an activist who is a German-Iranian dual citizen.

Nahid Taghavi was arrested in October 2020 while living in Iran. The charges against her included acting against national security, propagandizing against the regime, and participating in the establishment and management of an illegal group. After seven months of solitary confinement and interrogation, the Revolutionary Court sentenced her to 10 years and eight months in prison. She endured many physical problems after she turned 70 years old in prison.

After her mother was arrested, Mariam Claren made great efforts to free her mother by forming the Free.Nahid Campaign...

Happy freedom. Hoping for the release of all political prisoners in Iran

With the release of Nahid Taghavi, only Mehran Raoof remains in prison from among the  defendants in a June 2021 sham trial of Iranian activists. Mehran is a British-Iranian dual citizen, activist and translator with no family in Iran. Like Nahid, he was sentenced to 10+ years in prison and should have been eligible for parole after serving one-third of that sentence.

As their co-defendant Bahareh Soleimani tweeted on the day of Nahid’s release: “In this case, Mehran Raoof is the only one who remains in prison. Four years and three months, without leave and without visits. He is 68 years old.” Mehran, a diabetic, has been denied health care, and was subjected to prolonged solitary confinement and interrogation. Now more than ever people should shine a light on his case and be his advocate and his voice for his immediate release.

“No to Execution Tuesdays” Hunger Strike Grows to 34 Prisons on Eve of One Year Anniversary

On the 51st week of the prisoners-led “No to Execution Tuesdays” hunger strike movement, the number of prisons joining the weekly protest rose to 34. As a map of their locations shows, these prisoners are spread across the whole country, at the same time as there is a concentration in regions with majority populations of oppressed nationalities (or ethnic minorities), such as Kurds in Kurdistan and West and East Azerbaijan, and Gilaks in Gilan, as well as in and around the capital, Tehran.

Actions have been announced in different cities around the world to mark the anniversary of this strike, which falls on January 28, 2025, by demanding an end to executions in Iran.

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Overturn the Death Sentences of Pakhshan Azizi and Verisheh Moradi and All Prisoners

The death sentences against two Kurdish activist women, Pakhshan Azizi and Verisheh Moradi, continue to spark great outrage in Iran and in the Iranian diaspora, focusing the struggle against all executions. Both women are longtime activists who separately aided women and children in refugee camps in war-torn Kurdish regions in Syria and Iraq. Pakhshan is a social worker; Verisheh taught sports therapy to refugee children. In either case, their “crime” is only alleged association with Kurdish opposition groups which supposedly have armed wings. The Islamic Republic of Iran, by threatening and executing large numbers of Kurds, seeks to associate the national struggle of Kurds with “anti-Iranian outsiders”, in particular the U.S., which has used pro-imperialist Kurdish forces in Syria especially as cannon fodder against ISIS and the now-fallen Assad regime. And these executions also aim to terrorize a whole section of the population in Iran and the Middle East with histories of rebellion and revolution.

On January 15, in Sanandaj, the second largest city in Kurdistan province, a group of women activists stepped out boldly to publicly protest the death sentence of Pakhshan Azizi and for the release of all political prisoners. This is noteworthy because the Kurdish region in Iran, a vibrant site of the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising of Fall 2022, was the scene of some of the most draconian repression during that uprising for months. Protests by women in Sanandaj have continued since then, but usually off the streets and covering their faces. In this light, these women’s brave stand reflects their sense of urgency to stop the executions, most immediately that of Pakhshan Azizi.

Translation of caption: “Today, January 15, 2025, a group of women activists held a rally in front of the Kurdistan Provincial Building to protest the confirmation of the death sentence of #PakhshanAzizi and call for the immediate cancellation of this sentence and the release of all political and ideological prisoners.”

The Kurdish Students National Committee also posted a statement in support of Pakhshan Azizi which started out, “The Hangman Republic is once again looking for an innocent neck”. It calls the death sentences “a sign of failure and weakness of the Islamic Republic in front of the people, especially the women of this land, and strongly condemns it.”

Stop the Execution of Pakhshan Azizi and Verisheh Moradi! Stand With “No to Execution Tuesday” Hunger Strikes! End Executions and Free All Political Prisoners in Iran NOW! No to US Threats and War Moves!