Lawyers who have defended protesters or criticised government policies on social media are among the targets of an intensified assault on the independent profession in Iran, a rights group has said.
The US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) reported last week that 16 lawyers in the city of Mashad have been indicted on charges of ‘propaganda against the state’. Meanwhile last month 20 lawyers in Yazd province were summoned by the Provincial Judiciary’s Central Prosecutor’s Office and the Judiciary’s Intelligence Protection Unit to answer similar charges.
CHRI said it has learned that the primary basis for the charges was the lawyers’ online posts. One lawyer's posts highlighted injustices in Iran such as the lack of support for undocumented people in Iran’s impoverished Sistan and Baluchistan province. Another used Instagram 'to critique corruption in the country and authoritarianism in its governance. These peaceful expressions of concern for human rights and legal integrity are now being used as grounds for prosecution,' the group said.
‘Iran’s judiciary operates in unison with the state’s security apparatus to crush independent lawyers, and with them, the defense of legal rights in Iran,’ said Esfandiar Aban, senior researcher at CHRI. ‘These lawyers are the last remaining safeguards for huge numbers of unjustly detained individuals, and the authorities are determined to eliminate.’
Vague charges such as ‘propaganda against the state’ and ‘publishing falsehoods’ can lead to disbarred, internal exile or imprisonment.
Aban described the prosecutions as part of a ‘systematic effort by the Islamic Republic to silence those who fight for fundamental rights’. A particular target is lawyers who defended protesters during the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ uprising against the hijab laws.
CHRI calls on government leaders worldwide to demand that the Iranian government comply with its obligations under international law, including the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, which guarantees the work and independence of legal professionals without intimidation and harassment.
No comments yet