Iran: Human rights defenders Nazanin Salari, Mahmoud Taravat-Roy, and Massoud Ahmadian at imminent risk of arrest and detention
The IAPL Monitoring Committee reported on July 10 that human rights defenders and lawyers Nazanin Salari, Mahmoud Taravat-Roy, and Massoud Ahmadian face imminent arrest and detention in Iran. On June 8, Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court in Shiraz had sentenced the three to a combined three years’ imprisonment on charges of “assembly and collusion with the intent to commit crimes against national security” and “propaganda against the state”—standard national-security charges used to criminalize rights work. The case exemplifies the Iranian judiciary’s use of security courts and vaguely defined offenses to prosecute lawyers and defenders, and the intimidation of legal professionals who represent politically sensitive clients or engage in advocacy.