Three Attorneys Sentenced to Prison and Additional Punishments

HRANA – Nazanin Salari, Mahmoud Taravat Rouy, and Masoud Ahmadian, three defense attorneys, have each been sentenced by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Shiraz to three years in prison and a two-year ban on leaving the country.

According to HRANA, citing Emtedad, three defense attorneys in Shiraz have been sentenced to imprisonment and supplementary punishments.

A recent ruling issued by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Shiraz found Nazanin Salari, Mahmoud Taravat Rouy, and Masoud Ahmadian guilty. Under the verdict, each attorney was sentenced to two years in prison on charges of “assembly and collusion with the intent to commit crimes against national security,” and one year in prison for “propaganda activities against the regime.” As an additional punishment, they were also sentenced to a two-year travel ban accompanied by the invalidation of their passports.

The court acquitted the three attorneys of the charge of cooperating with a hostile government.

The report further states: “While the head of Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Shiraz had been handling the case during previous hearings, the case was suddenly reassigned to one of the court’s associate judges during the final session. Despite existing procedural flaws, the associate judge took the defendants’ final defense statements and subsequently issued the conviction ruling.”

According to the report, the judicial case against these attorneys stems from their participation in seminars on children’s and women’s rights, their advocacy for legal reforms concerning domestic violence, and other efforts aimed at combating violence against women and child marriage.

The trial session addressing the charges against these attorneys was held on January 6, 2026, at Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Shiraz.

The ruling is related to a case opened against them in 2020 on the aforementioned charges. In 2022, during proceedings before the same branch of the Revolutionary Court, the case was returned to the prosecutor’s office due to deficiencies in the investigation and ambiguities in the indictment. A new court session was subsequently held on May 31, 2023, before the same branch. The case was later referred back to the prosecutor’s office once again for further investigation.

The three attorneys were first summoned in connection with this case in November 2020 by the Ministry of Intelligence. Summonses and interrogations continued for more than ten sessions without formal charges being presented. Ultimately, in the summer of 2021, they were summoned to the Shiraz Prosecutor’s Office, formally charged, and released on bail of 1 billion tomans each.

The attorneys are additionally facing charges before Branch 112 of the Criminal Court, including encouraging immodesty and appearing in public without the mandatory hijab.

A Comprehensive Report of the First 82 days of Nationwide Protests in Iran

  HRANA – Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old young woman, was arrested by the morality police for the crime of improper hijab. Her arrest and death in detention fueled nationwide protests in Iran. Protesters came to the streets with the central slogan “Women, Life, Freedom” in protest against the performance, laws, and structure of the regime. The following 486-page report is dedicated to the statistical review, analysis, and summary of the first eighty-two days of the ongoing protests (September 17 to December 7, 2022). In this report, in addition to the geographic analysis and the presentation of maps and charts, the identity of 481 deceased, including 68 children and teenagers, an estimated of 18,242 arrested along with the identity of 3,670 arrested citizens, 605 students and 61 journalists or activists in the field of information is compiled. In addition, the report includes a complete collection of 1988 verified video reports by date and topic. The report examines protests across 1115 documented gatherings in all 31 provinces of the country, including 160 cities and 143 universities.

Summary

Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, a young 22-year-old woman from Saqqez, Kurdistan was visiting Tehran, when she was taken into custody on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, by the Morality Police officers at the Haqqani metro station in Tehran. The reason for her arrest: not properly observing the strict Islamic dress code. Mahsa/Zhina was taken to the infamous detention center of Moral Security Police known as Vozara.
Shortly after Mahsa’s arrest, she went into a coma with level three concussion, and her partially alive body was transferred to the intensive care unit of Kasra Hospital. Given the track record of the police and Guidance Patrols in mistreating the arrestees and similar previous incidents, with the believe that Mahsa was beaten during the arrest people were outraged.

Download full report in PDF format

Unpersuasive explanations given by the Central Command of the Islamic Republic Police Force (FARAJA) in defense of its actions regarding the death of Mahsa, the past performance of the police force, along with widespread dissatisfaction with the existence of a body called the Moral Security Police, fueled widespread protests in Iran.
The widespread protests sparked at the time Mahsa Amini was announced dead in front of Kasra Hospital on Argentina Street in Tehran, and then quickly spread to the streets despite the intimidating presence of Iran’s security forces. The protests intensified after Mahsa’s burial in a Saqqez cemetery. To the extent that after eighty-two days of nationwide protests between September 17, 2022, to December 7, 2022, they have spread to Iran’s all 31 provinces, 160 cities, and 143 major universities.
The protests did not stay limited to Mahsa’s death, it rather, quickly targeted the Iranian government’s political and ideological foundations. These protests were violently quashed by the anti-riot police and Iran’s militia force (Basij). teargas, pellets, and live ammunition were used in the repression of protestors. This widespread crackdown has led to the death of dozens of people and the wounding of hundreds of protestors.
Despite sever communication restrictions imposed by the Islamic Republic, this report attempts to give a clearer picture of the first 82 days of the protests between September 17, to December 7, 2022. It’s worth mentioning at the time of this report the protests are still ongoing in various forms.

Table of Contents

 

 

For further inquiries please contact Skylar Thompson, Senior Advocacy Coordinator Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA) at [email protected]

Attorney at Law Astareh Ansarei Arrested

On November 2, security forces arrested Astareh (Maryam) Ansari, attorney at law, in Shiraz and took her to an unidentified location.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, on November 2, 2022, lawyer Astareh Ansari was arrested in Shiraz.

Ansari was arrested in front of the Shiraz Bar association building. The reason for this arrest, the charges and her whereabouts are still unknown.

On the same day, four other lawyers, Ghodsiey Ghodsbin, Alireza Zare, Mehdi Safari and Mohammad Hadi Jafarpour, and the day before, three others, Nazanin Salari, Bahar Sahraeian and Mahmood Taravat were arrested in Shiraz.

According to the latest available data gathered by HRANA, over 14100 people have been arrested during the nationwide protests since Mahsa Amini’s death. For more details and statistics on the nationwide protest across Iran, read HRANA’s comprehensive report here.

 

 

About 400 Lawyers Demand End to Intimidation of Attorneys in Shiraz 

In an open statement, about 400 lawyers condemned the intimidation and arrest warrants for four public defenders in Shiraz. The statement stated that the continuation of such unlawful actions will cause the loss of public trust in the judiciary.”

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, in an open letter addressing the judicial authorities, 394 lawyers expressed concern about unlawful actions of security and judicial institutions. They condemned the arrest warrants against four public defenders, including Mahmood Tarawat, Masoud Ahmadian and Nazanin Salari.

They asked the judicial authorities to drop the charges against these attorneys, who have undergone frequent interrogation by security institutions during the last three years.