Attorneys Jailed to Prevent Them From Defending Protesters and Their Families January 25, 2023 – Four months into the Islamic Republic’s violent suppression of anti-state protests, Iranian authorities are beating, firing and threatening the families of detained and killed protesters to force them to remain silent, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) […]
“... A lawyer in Iran, who asked not to be named for security reasons, told CHRI that his clients had recently backed out of hiring him after they were bribed by state agents who took advantage of their dire economic condition. A partial transcription of the interview CHRI held with this lawyer follows below.
The security agencies don’t just make threats, in many cases they also try to persuade victims’ families, or those arrested, to remain silent.
During the recent protests, the family of a slain protester asked me to represent them to find and punish the assailant. However, a few days later, they reversed their decision and said they could not afford the cost. I said, we never spoke about the cost, so why was it financially difficult? Eventually I found out that the security agencies had convinced the family to keep quiet in exchange for naming their son a martyr, receiving blood money, and a state pension with benefits.
Although some of the protesters are students or members of civil society, many young protestors arrested or killed are from the working class and victims of this government’s financial and economic policies. A laborer who has received only a month’s salary in over eight months, and one of his children has been killed, will not seek justice because he must feed and clothe his two other children.
The lawyer also told CHRI that many state institutions have been given unlimited power to persecute street protesters....”
