FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2 March
More than 200 lawyers, organisations and members of the international legal community from across the globe have issued an urgent joint statement warning of a systematic and escalating assault on the right to independent legal defence in Iran.
The signatories, including bar associations, law societies, legal advocacy organisations, and individual lawyers and jurists, state that in the aftermath of the recent uprising and subsequent crackdown, Iranian authorities are simultaneously denying detainees access to independent counsel while targeting the very lawyers willing to represent them.
The outbreak of armed conflict involving Iran on Saturday adds a further and immediate layer of urgency to these concerns. Periods of war and national emergency are historically associated with heightened risks of arbitrary detention, secrecy, and abuse. At such moments, access to independent legal counsel and protection of the legal profession are not secondary considerations, they are essential safeguards against irreversible violations.
This dual pattern, the signatories warn, strikes at the heart of the rule of law.
“When detainees are obstructed from securing legal representation and lawyers are punished for providing it, the justice system ceases to function as a safeguard,” the statement reads. “It becomes instead an instrument of repression.”
According to reports from inside Iran, individuals detained in protest-related or so-called “national security” cases are facing systematic barriers to legal representation. Families describe prolonged incommunicado detention, uncertainty about detainees’ whereabouts, denial or delay of access to lawyers, pressure to abandon independently chosen counsel, and vague security allegations used to justify secrecy.
The signatories stress that denying access to counsel at the earliest stages of detention, when interrogations begin and evidence is formed, creates conditions in which coercion, forced confessions, torture, and other serious violations of due process become far more likely.
“Denial of counsel is not a technical defect; it is a gateway to abuse,” the statement states.
At the same time, lawyers across multiple provinces have been summoned, interrogated, arrested, detained, and threatened with further prosecution after indicating their intention to represent detainees or after publicly raising concerns about due process. In recent weeks alone, at least twenty lawyers from bar associations across Iran have been arrested or detained. Some remain in custody without publicly disclosed charges; others have been released on bail under security-related accusations. In at least one reported case, a detained lawyer has allegedly been severely beaten and denied medical care.
Restrictions on access to information suggest that additional cases may remain undocumented.
The escalation of military tensions and airstrikes has also intensified concerns about the safety of prisoners held in vulnerable detention facilities, including political prisoners and prisoners of conscience. Many are held in environments ill-equipped to withstand wartime crises and lack any meaningful ability to protect themselves. The responsibility for safeguarding their lives rests unequivocally with the Iranian authorities and the judiciary.
The signatories call on the Iranian authorities to immediately guarantee prompt and confidential access to a lawyer of one’s choosing from the moment of arrest; end incommunicado detention; cease harassment and prosecution of lawyers for legitimate professional work; release lawyers detained solely for carrying out their duties; and urgently implement available legal safeguards applicable during emergency conditions, including temporary release or transfer of prisoners where necessary to ensure their safety.
The signatories further urge the United Nations, including the Fact-Finding Mission on Iran and the Special Rapporteurs on Iran and on the independence of judges and lawyers, to intensify monitoring and follow-up on cases involving detained lawyers and prisoners facing heightened risk under current emergency conditions.
Read the full statement here
Media Contact:
The Centre for Supporters of Human Rights (CSHR)
