Human Rights Organization Reports New Wave of Repression and Threats Against Lawyers in Iran

On Wednesday, February 24, 1403, the Iran Human Rights Campaign reported that in recent months, agents of the Islamic Republic have significantly increased the scope of pressures, threats, arbitrary summonses, and repression of lawyers and independent legal scholars in various regions of Iran, particularly in Mashhad and Yazd. The report states that findings from the Iran Human Rights Campaign indicate that following the widespread protests of the 'Women, Life, Freedom' movement in 1401, lawyers and legal activists pursuing cases of protesters and government opponents have faced the most confrontations and security-judicial prosecutions among their peers. According to this human rights organization, the indictment of 16 lawyers in Mashhad on fabricated political charges is part of an organized repression that Islamic Republic officials have employed to silence defenders of citizens' rights and evade accountability for widespread human rights violations. Esfandiar Aban, a senior researcher at the Iran Human Rights Campaign, stated, 'The judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran is fully coordinated with the country's security apparatus in an effort to suppress independent lawyers and, by eliminating them, destroy the defense of citizens' rights.' He further added, 'These lawyers are the last bastion of defense for a large number of individuals who have been unjustly detained. It now seems that the determination of judicial authorities to eliminate lawyers has become more serious than before.' The report indicates that on February 15, 1403, the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office of Mashhad issued an indictment against 16 lawyers on charges of 'propaganda against the regime.' Previously, 18 lawyers had been interrogated in this case, ultimately leading to a 'non-prosecution order' for two of them; however, 'guilty orders' and indictments were issued for the other 15. According to this report, the investigative branch of the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office of Mashhad, following the opinion of the fifth branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of this city and 'despite the issuance of previous non-prosecution and suspension orders,' issued a 'summons for trial' for these lawyers. The human rights organization reported that on February 9, 1403, the Yazd Legal News Telegram channel briefly announced that 20 lawyers in this province had been summoned by the central prosecutor's office and the judiciary's protection information department. Meanwhile, during this period, the provincial bar association has not reacted to these summonses. The Iran Human Rights Campaign reported that the Islamic Republic's regime in Iran is increasingly subjecting independent lawyers to various forms of security and judicial pressures under false political charges, including 'propaganda against the regime' and 'spreading falsehoods.' In another section, it is stated that many of these lawyers have been deprived of their professional activity or have been sent to detention centers and prisons for defending victims of government repression and exposing corruption within the judiciary. Esfandiar Aban stated, 'The issuance of guilty orders for 16 lawyers in Mashhad is part of the systematic and structural efforts of the Islamic Republic to eliminate the independence of the legal profession and silence those who fight for fundamental rights.'