Iran: Call for the Release of Persecuted Lawyers

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported that the Iranian Central Bar Association “should come to the aid of embattled lawyers subjected to harassment, unfounded criminal charges, or prison sentences for defending prisoners of conscience and advocating for human rights.”   Additionally, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran called on the International Bar Association and United Nations Special Rapporteur to intervene and defend Iranian lawyers facing persecution.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi has released a list of 41 lawyers who have been targeted for government persecution since June 2009 for fulfilling legal duties.  According to Ebadi, one of the main responsibilities of the Iranian Central Bar Association is to oversee the performance of lawyers and to protect them legally. But lawyers are the least protected professional group in Iran.”

Mohammad Seifzadeh, an imprisoned lawyer and human rights activist sent an open letter for former President Mohammad Khatami highlighting the violations of prisoner’s judicial rights.  Seifzadeh emphasized that the revolutionary courts are illegal and specified that ”not a single one of the defendants in 6,000 political and media-related cases examined by 21 lawyers since Khatami was elected president in 1997 received a fair trial in accordance with Iran’s Constitution.”  Nasin Sotoudeh, a human rights lawyer imprisoned in Iran, refused prison visits by her family after they were “roughly treated” during their visit two weeks ago by the prison staff.