Must Say Goodbye to Defense Word in Iran

Attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh spoke to Rooz after her office was raided by Iran’s security agents and announced in her exclusive interview that she was given a summons to appear in court within three days on charges of “assembly and conspiracy to disrupt national security and propaganda against the regime.”

Noting that she views the charges as “baseless and absolute lies,” Sotoudeh said that she will decide whether to appear in court after consulting with her attorneys and examining the legal validity of the summons.

Since the disputed June 2009 presidential election, attorneys in Iran have been subjected to heavy pressures, with some jailed and others forced to leave the country. The raid on Ms. Sotoudeh’s house and the confiscation of her files, documents and personal belongings is the latest instance of this trend.

Abdolfatah Soltani and Mohammad Ali Dadkhah are two other prominent attorneys who spent months in the infamous Evin Prison on national security charges and are still subjected to pressures. Mohammad Oliyayifard remains behind bars, while Mohammad Seifzadeh is awaiting his trial later this summer. Khalil Bahramian was summoned to the Evin Prison for questioning some time ago and subjected to interrogation, and Saleh Nikbakht has an open case at the judiciary’s branch in the Evin Prison.

Perhaps for these reasons, Ms. Sotoudeh said, “The gentlemen plan to put so much pressure on lawyers to make legal defense, especially of political defendants, impossible.”

Sotoudeh, whose mobile phone was confiscated for the second time on Saturday, told Rooz, “On Saturday evening I was in my office when four agents arrived. Simultaneously, six other agents went to our house where my husband and children were staying. They showed me a warrant to search my office and house, which was issued by Evin Prison’s acting prosecutor, Mr. Farahani. The warrant said, ‘Visit the defendant’s office and house to collect evidence and documents and confiscate evidence of crime.’”

Ms. Sotoudeh noted that her mobile phone was confiscated for the second time: “The first time was after Arash Rahmanipour’s execution and was later returned. But now they confiscated my mobile phone again during the Sautrday raid. Despite the objections that my husband and I voiced to the agents, unfortunately they confiscated my husband’s work tools, including his computer hard drive, as well as my daughter’s computer case and my son’s personal CDs. They raided my husband’s room and my children’s personal rooms, which was absolutely illegal.”

Ms. Sotoudeh, who represents many journalists and political prisoners, including Isa Saharkhiz, Keyvan Samimi, Zia Nabavi, as well as Shirin Ebadi, denied the charges against her. “I don’t accept any of these cliché charges. There was a cliché before to accuse all activists, including labor, civil, students, etc., of propaganda against the regime. After last year’s election, they added another cliché charge, conspiracy and assembly against national security. As a lawyer, I declare that these charges are false and humorous, not just as applied to me, but as applied to everyone who is behind bars because of them: Ahmad Zeidabadi, Keyvan Samimi, Heshmatollah Tabarzadi and many others,” she told Rooz.