Continued Crackdown on Lawyers in Iran; Mehdi Karimi Farsi Sentenced to Imprisonment

News reports indicate the sentencing of another lawyer in Iran to imprisonment; the judiciary of the Islamic Republic has sentenced "Mehdi Karimi Farsi" to one year in prison. According to the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, HRANA, the prison sentence for Karimi Farsi was issued by Branch 29 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Ali Mazloom, and was communicated to him on Sunday. This lawyer, a member of the Central Bar Association, was convicted on the charge of "propaganda against the system" and sentenced to one year in prison. The court session addressing his charges, along with two other lawyers, was held on February 5. Mehdi Karimi Farsi participated in a long march in Tehran in August 2023 as a protest in defense of the independence of the Bar Association, which garnered widespread reactions. With the onset of the nationwide protests in 2022 and the emergence of the "Women, Life, Freedom" movement, pressures on lawyers, like other segments of society in Iran, have increased, leading to the arrest of at least 44 lawyers. The "Frontline Lawyers Association" condemned the five-year prison sentence of Mohammad Reza Faghihi. The execution of the prison sentence for Amir Salar Davoodi, a lawyer, was halted. Mehdi Shakibafar, another lawyer, was transferred to "Saveh Prison" to serve his sentence. Five legal and human rights organizations protested the conviction of Mohammad Seyfzadeh. Sina Youssefi, a lawyer, was sentenced to prison for commenting on the helicopter crash involving Raisi.