🔶 suppression of independent lawyers in Iran; Deprivation of the right to defend themselves from citizens.
🔻 Reporting by Atfeh Chaharmahalian.
UN human rights experts, in November 1405, announced increased legal and security pressures on independent lawyers in Iran. According to them, at least 135 lawyers were summoned, arrested, banned, suspended or canceled from Shriver 1404 until Shriver 1405 and were forbidden to leave the country. 23 lawyers, including five women, were also arrested between December and March 1404.
In addition to arrest and prison, work restrictions and denial of a lawyer's license were also additional means of pressure on independent lawyers. These measures, along with legal restrictions, including the comment to Article 48 of the Criminal Procedure Law and the denial of the right to choose a lawyer in certain security cases, created a series of continuous pressures on the independence of the legal profession.
UN experts have warned that this process not only limits lawyers but also makes defendants vulnerable to arbitrary detention, forced confessions and unfair trials. With such achievements, the independence of the legal profession and the right of Iranian citizens to an effective defense are still unanswered questions of Iran's legal system.
In this report, in an interview with Deutsche Welle, lawyer Sina Yousfi and human rights defender Shaban Moinifur analyzed the consequences of suppressing the independence of the legal profession and its effect on the right to defense and citizens' access to due process.