3600 Lawyers and Civil Activists Demand Removal of Obstacles to Abdolfattah Soltani's Freedom

3600 lawyers and civil activists, in a letter to the judiciary officials, members of parliament, and lawyers, requested the 'removal of obstacles' to the freedom of Abdolfattah Soltani, urging him to suspend his hunger strike for one month. These lawyers and civil activists emphasized that Abdolfattah Soltani has faced numerous injustices during his imprisonment, in addition to enduring suffering, hardships, and multiple illnesses. The letter highlighted issues such as the silence on the request to implement the former Article 18 (despite all judicial preparations), the rejection of the retrial request, the cancellation of leave rights during Nowruz, and deprivation of the legal right to conditional release as examples of the 'injustices' faced by this lawyer. The authors of the letter asserted that the 'restrictions' imposed on Abdolfattah Soltani over the years are 'not justifiable by any legal, security, or political logic.' They called on parliament members, judiciary officials, the head of the Central Bar Association, the president of the Iranian Bar Association, and other lawyers to utilize all available capacities to 'remove obstacles' to Abdolfattah Soltani's freedom by the end of Farvardin (April). The authors also requested that Abdolfattah Soltani 'suspend his hunger strike at least until the end of Farvardin.' Notable signatories of this letter include Mohammad Hashemi, Mohammad Sharif, Mohammad Seifzadeh, Farideh Ghaer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Giti Pourfazel, Azar Mansouri, Mohammad Tosli, Minoo Mortazi, Mostafa Tajzadeh, Taghi Rahmani, Emadeddin Baghi, Parastoo Forouhar, Mahmoud Beheshti, Rasoul Badaghi, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, Zahra Rabani Amolshi, and Parvin Ardalan. Abdolfattah Soltani, a lawyer and human rights defender, has been on a hunger strike since the first of Farvardin in protest against the interference of intelligence ministry agents in judicial matters concerning political prisoners. Shirin Ebadi, head of the Human Rights Defenders Center, previously stated that one of the intelligence ministry interrogators known as Mahmoudi, who had previously interrogated him, is the interrogator in the cases of Narges Mohammadi and Abdolfattah Soltani. The Coordination Council of the Green Path of Hope, an organization close to Mir Hossein Mousavi, in a statement in September 2015, referred to the 'efforts of authoritarian extremists to impose political closure on society,' accusing the intelligence ministry of 'collaboration' with the IRGC intelligence organization and the judiciary in part of the 'repression projects.' Abdolfattah Soltani has been sentenced to 13 years in prison, which is reduced to 10 years under Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code. According to Article 134, if a person has multiple offenses, only the sentence for the most severe punishment is considered. Additionally, if Mr. Soltani utilizes his right to conditional release, he should be freed. The website 'Kalemeh' published a letter from Abdolfattah Soltani's lawyers to him on the 29th of Esfand, stating that this lawyer has filed for a retrial, but the Supreme Court has not even 'bothered to study the case or go beyond that to request the case file' and 'responded negatively to this request within just a few days.' Ebrahim Sabatqadam and Saeed Dehghan emphasized in this letter that the charges cited by the Revolutionary Court judge during Abdolfattah Soltani's trial were not crimes at all, and regardless of this, 'even the imposed punishments were disproportionate to the alleged crime.' Some of the charges against Abdolfattah Soltani include participating in the establishment of the Human Rights Defenders Center in prison, receiving the Nuremberg Human Rights Award from Germany, and informing about his clients' cases. Mr. Soltani's health condition has deteriorated during his years in prison, suffering from illnesses such as anemia, fluctuating blood pressure, and acute colitis. In this context, Abdolfattah Soltani, the imprisoned lawyer, announced his decision to go on a hunger strike. Amnesty International has called for the immediate release of Abdolfattah Soltani. A park in Nuremberg has been symbolically named after Abdolfattah Soltani.