Iranian Regime Punishing Lawyers For Supporting Protesters

Iran's judiciary has been building cases against dozens of independent lawyers for representing dissidents and supporting the Women, Life, Freedom movement.

Iran International has learned that summoning lawyers to the Prosecutor’s Office in Tehran, which started in March, resumed last week after a pause due to the relocation of the prosecutor in charge.

The judiciary’s intelligence organization, sources in Iran said, is behind the prosecution of these lawyers most of whom had expressed their support for the Women, Life, Freedom movement on social media.

The case involves 170 lawyers of whom, sources told Iran International, 27 individuals from different parts of the country have already been summoned by the Evin prison prosecutor on charges of “propaganda against the regime” and “assembly and collusion with the intention of acting against [national] security”.

Iran International has also learned that lawyers who were summoned were forced to sign a pledge that implies acceptance of the charges. One of the two lawyers who refused to sign the pledge was detained for a few hours and another one for a few days.

UK-based lawyer and women’s rights activist Samaneh Savadi told Iran International that the regime is taking revenge on lawyers, many among whom volunteered to represent protesters. She said that the attorneys are being punished “for standing beside the people”.

Ali Mojtahedzadeh, one of the summoned lawyers, told Etemad newspaper Sunday that most of these lawyers had participated in the protests or voiced support on social media. He said he and some of his colleagues had received the letter to present themselves to the prosecutor in the past few days.

He pointed out that the cases against most of these lawyers were dropped following Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s “amnesty”, but now new charges have been brought against them.

In February, Khamenei agreed to a proposal by Judiciary chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei to pardon some prisoners and reduce sentences for those arrested during antigovernment protests last year. The move appeared to be designed to show clemency after hundreds were killed and around 20,000 arrested, and to rescue the image of the regime amid a grim economic crisis and mass public rejection of Khamenei’s rule.

Another lawyer, Mitra Izadifar, told Etemad that she is being prosecuted again, after being pardoned earlier. She added that she has been summoned to Tehran although she lives and practices in Mashhad.

Mohammad-Hadi Jafarpour who practices law in Shiraz also told Etemad “I was once arrested on November 2 on charges of ‘propaganda against the regime’ and ‘assembly and collusion with the intention of acting against [national] security. At the time, I was mostly questioned by prosecutors about my media commentaries, [Instagram] posts, and tweets… I had to sign a pledge in order to be pardoned [by Khamenei].”

He added that he has also been summoned to Tehran by the Evin prosecutor although despite a legal requirement that says he should be prosecuted in his own city. Jafarpour pointed out that the summons letter he received did not mention the charges.

Earlier in March a Revolutionary court permanently deprived prominent lawyer Nemat Ahmadi, a member of the Union Internationale des Avocats or International Association of Lawyers, from practicing law in Iran.

Ahmadi, a former professor of law sacked from Azad University for his political activities and representing political prisoners, was sued by the intelligence ministry for the same reason.

Dissidents and protesters are often deprived of their right to choose their own lawyers and must accept defense attorneys the judiciary appoints from a government-trusted list.