Issuance of 'Arrest Order for Trial' for at Least 17 Lawyers in Mashhad

Two lawyers announced that the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office in Mashhad has issued indictments against at least 17 lawyers on charges of 'propaganda against the regime.' Marzieh Mohibi and Sina Yousefi stated on Tuesday, February 15, on the social media platform X that the investigative branch of the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office in Mashhad, following the opinion of the fifth branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in this city and 'despite the issuance of a previous order of prohibition and suspension of prosecution,' has issued 'arrest orders for trial' for at least 17 lawyers. According to the report, the lawyers for whom arrest orders have been issued include: 'Amirdokht Bahareh Bazrgar, Amin Shahla, Sajjad Javadi, Saeed Javadi, Sahar Dashti Daghiani, Elham Arasteh, Mitra Izadifar, Jafar Sagharvaniyan, Rouhollah Hosseini, Enayatollah Karamati, Faezah Seyedi, Vajieh Qureshi Yazdi, Ali-Asghar Dashti, Farzaneh Safari, Kazem Chezgi, Mohammad-Reza Yazdani, and Mehdi Mohammad Hosseinian.' Pressure on lawyers and legal professionals and the fabrication of cases against them by the judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran has intensified in recent years and continues. In recent days, Babak Paknia, a lawyer, announced that he was summoned to the disciplinary court of the Central Bar Association due to explaining the rights of detainees from the nationwide protests of 2022. Additionally, sources close to Mohammad-Reza Faqihi reported that this lawyer was transferred to Evin Prison in Tehran on Tuesday, February 2, to serve a five-year prison sentence. The Islamic Republic has arrested at least 44 lawyers since the beginning of the nationwide protests in Iran on September 17, 2022, and later sentenced some of them to imprisonment, disqualification from practicing law, and other social deprivations. Among the arrested lawyers, Maryam Arvin, who had defended detainees from protests in Kerman Province and was arrested for this reason, suspiciously died a few days after her temporary release. The mother of this lawyer later stated that the cause of her death was 'the connection of an IV' in prison. Human Rights Watch has called for the release of imprisoned lawyer Mohammad-Reza Faqihi. Saeed Mortazavi has become a 'lawyer' while being a human rights violator in the guise of a lawyer. Reza Mohammadi from Qazalhesar stated: 'The regime of execution is entrusted to justice.' Four journalists have been summoned to the Evin Prosecutor's Office and the Culture and Media Prosecutor's Office. The Bar Association Union reported the suspicious deaths of at least 23 lawyers over six years.