IHR Condemns the Arrest of the Iranian Lawyer Zeynab Taheri

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam (Director of IHR)

Phone: +47 917 42 177

Email: [email protected]

Two days after the execution of a Gonabadi Dervish in Iran, her Lawyer, Zeynab Taheri, was arrested. The arrest was first reported by a telegram channel attributed to her. Later Vahid Beheshti, an activist for the rights of Dervishes, confirmed Zeynab Taheri’s arrest in his interview with Iran International TV.
Iran Human Rights strongly condemns the arrest of lawyers solely for doing their job. The spokesperson and director of IHR, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said, “instead of responding to questions regarding torture, forced confession and unfair trial of Mohammad Salas, Iranian authorities arrested his lawyer.”

However, Amiry-Moghaddam considers Taheri’s arrest as a part of a systematic crackdown on lawyers and putting the further limitation on legal societies in Iran. Apparently, it is an attempt to cover the Iranian leader's role in the unlawful execution of Mohammad Salas. The spokesperson says, “Recently, lawyers are being repressed more than ever. On the one hand, the government is trying to restrict lawyers and jurists by passing laws such as Article 48 of the Criminal Procedure and publishing a list of state-approved lawyers. On the other hand, they try to strike fear into the hearts of lawyers by arresting and imprisoning them. Arresting Nasrin Sotoudeh was also a part of the systematic repression of lawyers.”

While expressing hope that the civil society organizations will defend lawyers and jurists, IHR’s spokesperson emphasized, “We urge the international community, especially the European Union, to strongly react to the systematic repression of Iranian lawyers. Those lawyers are only arrested and harassed for doing their job. Obviously, restricting the independent lawyers will facilitate the violation of human rights in Iran.”

IRAN: IHR STRONGLY CONDEMNS EXECUTION OF THE GONABADI DERVISH MOHAMMAD SALAS

Zeynab Taheri, the lawyer of Mohammad Salas who was executed on Monday, was pressured by security agencies during the last few days. Mohammad Salas was arrested on February 19, 2018, after the protests of the Gonabadi dervishes. He was charged with the murder of three police officers by running over them by a bus. Nevertheless, a post was published on a Twitter page and a Telegram channel attributed to Zeynab Taheri claiming that she had pieces of evidence proving his innocence.

In an interview with IRNA a few hours before her arrest, Zeynab Taheri said, “Some Telegram channels used some materials on my websites and published them and the posts had nothing to do with me.” 

Taheri was also defending Mohammadreza Jalali, an Iranian-Swedish physician and researcher who has been sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court in Iran on the charges of “espionage and collaboration with enemies”. Jalali's wife had previously told that the lawyer was threatened and asked to abandon Jalali's case by the authorities of Iranian Ministry of Intelligence.

UN Rights Experts Urge Iran to Annul Death Sentence Against Ahmadreza Djalali