Persecution of lawyers: then and now

I received an interesting book in the post this week, thick and with a glossy cover. It came from the Austrian bar and describes the fate of many lawyers in Austria from 1938 to 1945. Advokaten 1938 is in German, but with a helpful brief English summary.

There were 2,541 lawyers in Vienna at the time of the Anschluss in March 1938, of whom 62% were Jewish. In September 1938, a law came into effect that allowed for all full Jews to be struck from the roll of lawyers. During Kristallnacht in November 1938, nearly all the Jewish lawyers still living in the country were arrested. By the end of 1938, there were only 771 lawyers left in Vienna. The book covers the whole country, and has brief biographies of the many lawyers concerned, some with photos. Reading it can break your heart.

That was then. Today, lawyer persecution does not take the form of liquidating an ethnic group within the profession (and of course the Nazis were not just targeting lawyers, but entire groups of people). Yet categories of lawyers – particularly human rights lawyers – still face disbarment, physical attack and, in the worst cases, death. It seems to me that their problems have recently grown worse. I am not comparing any of the countries below to Nazi Germany and Austria, and the industrial scale of assaults seen then. Nevertheless, this brief entry constitutes my own little book recording some recent brutal experiences.

Since the Arab revolutions, the Chinese government has been very keen to snuff out dissent. There has been a wave of detentions and harassments which have been carried out by the authorities against prominent human rights lawyers. For instance, it was reported that on 16 February, Mr Jiang Tianyong was assaulted by police. An officer held him by the neck and threw him against a wall, shouting: 'You just wait!' On 19 February, he was taken from his brother’s home in Beijing by police, who later returned to the house to confiscate his computer. Mr Tianyong has not been heard from since. On the same day, human rights lawyer and scholar Mr Teng Biao went missing following a lunch with other lawyers in Beijing. On 20 February, police searched his home and confiscated items including two computers and a printer. In December 2010, he was detained, assaulted and severely threatened by police officers. Then Mr Tang Jitian was arrested and seized by police following this same lunch. The police took him from his home after smashing the lock, breaking down the door and taking him away. Several other lawyers who attended the lunch have also been detained. After that, on 20 February, human rights lawyer Mr Liu Shihui was brutally attacked by a group of unidentified men as he made his way to a protest site in the city. He was hooded, beaten and stabbed in his legs before being left bleeding by the roadside. He reportedly crawled back to his home from where he called for help.

Everybody knows that Iran’s proposed stoning of Ms Sakineh Ashtiani caused a worldwide uproar. Her lawyer, Mr Houtan Kiyan, was arrested last year for just fulfilling his responsibilities as Ms Ashtiani’s lawyer and for talking to foreign nationals. His detention seems part of the Iranian authorities ongoing targeting of defence lawyers, and there are rumours on Twitter this week that he may be executed. Last September, Iranian authorities arrested another human rights lawyer, Ms Nasrin Sotoudeh, at Tehran's Evin Prison during a visit to a political prisoner-client. She was later convicted of 'propaganda against the regime', 'acting against national security' and 'not wearing hijab during a videotaped message' – charges which appear either to not be proper criminal offences or are unsubstantiated by evidence. She was sentenced to 11 years of prison, and banned from practising law and travelling for 20 years.

In Belarus, Europe’s so-called 'last dictatorship', lawyers have recently been disbarred for trying to defend pro-democracy activists. At least five lawyers who have tried to defend opposition leaders have been struck off the roll by the Ministry of Justice, which decides who can practise. Their names are: Pavel Sapelka, Vadzimer Toustsik, Tamara Harayeva, Tatsyana Aheyeva and her son Aleh Aheyev. Mr Sapelka defended the presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov. He had his licence revoked after he visited his client in the KGB detention centre and publicly stated that he looked 'dramatically beaten' and could 'hardly move'. He also called all suspicions against his client 'absolutely groundless', adding that he was 'entirely innocent'. The justice ministry stated he was disbarred for 'inappropriate statements'.

Spare a thought for our suffering colleagues. One day their bars might devote a book to them, too.

Jonathan Goldsmith is the secretary general of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), which represents around a million European lawyers through its member bars and law societies

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