Yashar Tabrizi Under 'Torture' by the IRGC; Zahra Saidian-Joo Denied Right to Choose a Lawyer

News sources in Iran report on the 'pressure, threats, and torture' faced by Yashar Tabrizi, as well as Zahra Saidian-Joo being denied the right to choose her lawyer. Vahideh Imanzadeh, Yashar Tabrizi's wife, announced on her Instagram account on Sunday, December 3, that this political prisoner had a two-minute phone call from Ward 240 of the IRGC on Saturday, December 2. According to her, while Yashar Tabrizi mentioned 'solitary confinement and poor physical and mental health and pressure, threats, and torture' after the usual greetings, the officer monitoring the call 'did not allow him to finish his sentence and cut off the phone.' Vahideh Imanzadeh emphasized that the 'responsibility for maintaining the health and life' of her husband Yashar Tabrizi lies entirely with the judiciary and the prison organization. Yashar Tabrizi, a constitutionalist civil activist who was arrested in Tabriz on the eve of the anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death and the nationwide protests of 2022, was transferred to Evin Prison in Tehran. Previously, in a message from prison, he emphasized the demand for 'democracy, freedom, peace, and equality for all Iranians,' and 'protest against oppression and injustice,' stating that 'this ruling group is even afraid of our voices reaching the people.' Additionally, lawyer Reza Shafaghi announced that Zahra Saidian-Joo, from the families of the bereaved, has been denied the right to choose her lawyer, stating that 'despite announcing representation' for the bereaved sister of Milad Saidian-Joo and 'personally visiting the second branch of the investigative court of the city of Izeh,' judicial authorities did not accept his representation. Reza Shafaghi emphasized that 'Hashimi,' the investigator of this branch, 'refused to accept his representation' for Zahra Saidian-Joo based on a clause of Article 48 of the Criminal Procedure Code, thus limiting 'the right of the client to defense at this stage.' Milad Saidian-Joo was killed in November 2022 during the crackdown on nationwide protests by the Islamic Republic forces in Izeh, and since then, his bereaved sister Zahra has been arrested three times and has also been dismissed from her job. The pressure from the Islamic Republic on the bereaved and protesters in Iran continues. In previous days, a source informed VOA that after judicial authorities in Lorestan arrested an environmental activist for 'planting a tree on the grave of Nika Shakerami,' unidentified individuals targeted his brother with six bullets in front of the central prison of Khorramabad.