Another Victim of Judiciary’s Revenge Machine

While unsettled Iranian workers boycotted the state-sanctioned Labor Day events, Mohammad Oliyayeefard, one of the most prominent and active human rights and children’s rights lawyers was arrested for the second time in recent months and taken to the notorious Evin Prison in northern Tehran.

Speaking to Rooz, one of Oliyayeefard’s lawyers said that his client’s arrest was unconstitutional because the arrest warrant was never shown to Mr. Oliyayeefard. Meanwhile, one of Mr. Oliyayeefard’s former clients, who has been released on bail, told Rooz, “that because Mr. Oliyayeefard was a courageous and experienced lawyer, he had become the victim of the judiciary’s revenge machine.”

Four well-known Iranian lawyers, including Ms. Nasreen Sotoudeh and Mr. Abdolfatah Soltani have agreed to represent the imprisoned lawyer.

Shortly after his arrest, Oliyayeefard’s wife told the BBC Farsi television network that she was worried about her husband’s physical well-being and his chronic migraines: “My husband contacted me hours after his arrest and said he is in quarantine, and probably barred from visitation rights for the next two weeks.”

She added, “The revolutionary court said that I must bring a letter from the judge in the case to request a visitation. When I went to court, all of the personnel in branch 6 and 8, and even the judge said that they did not have the authority to grant visitation rights.”

Aside from not having visitation rights with his wife, Oliyayeefard is not allowed to meet with his lawyers either. Nasreen Sotoudeh says, “In political cases, we are not allowed to meet with our clients.”

Sotoudeh recalls when plain-clothes agents attacked the lawyer’s office in 1387: “He was doomed to this fate because he absolutely never agreed to compromise his professional and personal integrity under threats or pressure. In fact, Mr. Oliyayeefard, being a courageous and experienced lawyer, has become the victim of the judiciary’s revenge machine. We cannot forget that Oliyayeefard never shied away from defending his clients. He took care of all stages of the defense, from preparing the briefs to disseminating information, without any expectation of material benefits.”

Sotoudeh also remembers Oliyayeefard’s efforts in representing Shabnam Madadzadeh: “For example, in Shabnam Madadzadeh’s case, he was so active and hardworking that he was able to take her interrogators and torturers to court. The effort failed because of the conspiracy between the judiciary and the torturers, but Mr. Oliyayeefard performed his duties as a lawyer exceptionally well. In the case of Behnoud Shojaei too, he did everything in his power for the defense. In an interview with Voice of America he challenged the roots of juvenile executions both on legal and religious grounds, which led to the national security charges against him that are responsible for his fate today. The awareness that he raised about the issue of juvenile executions led to the reversal of the death verdict for one of his client, Salah Taaseh. The day he received Salah Taaseh’s death verdict reversal, I was present in his office. He was so happy and ecstatic, even more so than his client’s parents.”