European lawyers’ representatives have expressed concern about the welfare of lawyers arrested amid continuing turmoil in Iran. In a statement today, the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), which represents the bars and law societies of 46 countries, also called on Tehran to accept a public inquiry into deaths in custody. 

The current wave of anti-government demonstrations began after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, after her arrest by the Gasht-e Ershad, the ‘morality police’, for not wearing her hijab in the prescribed manner. In its statement, the CCBE expressed 'deep concern at the violent repression of these rallies in solidarity with Iranian women, resulting in dozens of deaths, hundreds of injuries and thousands of arrests'.

Lawyers are among those arrested, the statement continued. 'The CCBE is also concerned about the repression suffered by many Iranian lawyers, who are in turn subject to pressure, threats and arrests in the exercise of their profession. Mahsa Gholamalizadeh, Saeed Jalilian, Milad Panahipoor, Hossein Jalilian, and Babak Paknia, Roza Etemadansari, Firouzeh Khordechi and Amir Dehghani, are among the many lawyers who were arrested while working with demonstrators against the current regime.’

The CCBE urged the Iranian authorities to:

  • end persecution and ensure that everyone has access to a lawyer of their choice from the moment of their arrest;
  • end all forms of harassment and intimidation of lawyers in Iran;
  • guarantee the immediate and unconditional freedom of lawyers arbitrarily detained;
  • accept a public enquiry into the death of Mahsa Amini and the other victims by an independent international commission.

Yesterday a report by the Iranian government-sponsored High Council for Human Rights quoted a coroner’s report stating that Amini’s death 'was not caused by blows to the head or any vital organs and parts of the body'.