One Year Imprisonment for Two Human Rights Lawyers; Saifzadeh: The Act Committed is Seeking Justice

In the ongoing pressure on lawyers, Mohammad Saifzadeh and Marzieh Nik-Ara, two human rights defense attorneys, have been sentenced to one year in prison. According to documents obtained by Voice of America, Branch 29 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran has sentenced each of these lawyers to one year of imprisonment on charges of "propaganda against the system" and "spreading falsehoods." In an audio file sent to the Persian section of Voice of America, Mohammad Saifzadeh states that he did not attend the court session because he considers the Revolutionary Courts to be illegal. This prominent lawyer asserts: "I did not attend the court due to formal and substantive reasons, including the illegality of the Revolutionary Courts and the mismatch of the act committed, which was seeking justice, with the attributed charges against me." Saifzadeh emphasizes that the court "did not even send the verdict" and that the notification of the sentence was done electronically. This 75-year-old lawyer has previously insisted that, according to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, political defendants must be tried in judicial courts with the presence of a real jury and publicly. He has denied the charges against him, stating that this case is due to his letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and that he will not attend the court because he considers it illegal, and despite multiple illnesses, he is willing to go to prison again. Additionally, in a letter signed by 45 lawyers and human rights activists to Antonio Guterres, it was emphasized that seeking justice is the right of all people in Iran. Mohammad Saifzadeh, a lawyer and vice president of the Human Rights Defenders Association, has been arrested and imprisoned multiple times over the years. A new wave of summons of lawyers to the judiciary has resumed in 1402, and most of the summoned lawyers have been active in the cases of nationwide protests following the death of Mahsa Amini or on social media. Analysts say the government is trying to prevent similar events from occurring as in the fall of 1401.