Iran: 30 Years of Imprisonment for Human Rights Lawyer

Mostafa Tork-e-Hamedani, an Iranian lawyer, wrote on Twitter earlier on Tuesday, “Today I have noticed that the verdict of 30 years of imprisonment (15 years implementable) for Amirsalar Davoudi, the respectable lawyer, is finalized. We will do everything possible under the law, to urge the head of the Judiciary and Tehran’s Attorney General to cancel this verdict.”
Vahid Moshkani Farahani, Amirsalar’s lawyer, told IHR, “Mr Davoudi had decided not to appeal.”
Besides the 30 years of imprisonment in which 15 years will be implemented, Mr Davoudi has been sentenced to 111 lashes, 60 million Rials (around 4000 USD) court fine and deprivation of his social rights for two years.
Amirsalar Davoudi was arrested by the Iranian Judiciary on November 20, 2018. He was the defense attorney of several political and civil activists as well as Baha’i minorities in Iran.
According to IHR sources, Davoudi is accused of “Gathering and collusion, spreading false information, insulting Iranian officials, insulting the Supreme Leader, and propaganda against the system” in one legal case and in another case, accused of “forming a group to overthrow the political system, and cooperating with the enemy government of the United States of America.” These charges are based on Davoudi’s expression of opinion on social media or giving interviews to Farsi media outside Iran.
IHR strongly condemns Mr Davoudi’s verdict and urges the international community to react to the systematic crackdown on Iranian lawyers. IHR’s director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam had previously said, “By suppressing and imprisonment of independent lawyers, the Iranian regime has shown that it has no tolerance for the expression of any opinion different from its own. The international community, in particular, the EU, must react immediately and firmly to increase the political cost of such actions by the Islamic Republic of Iran.”