Lawyers under pressure in Iran: the right to a defense at risk
On September 25 the convictions of eight lawyers from Gilan province in a joint case before the Revolutionary Court in Rasht were reported, on charges of “propaganda against the system” and insulting Iran’s current and former supreme leaders. This report places the verdicts within a wider pattern: defendants in certain security cases may choose only from lawyers approved by the Head of the Judiciary during the investigation stage, and independent lawyers who take such cases face summonses, prosecution and bans from practice. It also notes collective cases against lawyers in Mashhad and Shiraz and an official’s statement in August that bar associations “should prepare to be dissolved.” Iran Human Rights Monitor works in collaboration with the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an opposition organization.