By Kayhan Life Staff
Lawyers in Iran are actively being targeted by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s security apparatus and judiciary in the aftermath of the tragic protests of December and January.
According to the U.S.-based Iran Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), at least 135 lawyers in 14 provinces across Iran have been summoned, detained, or prosecuted over the past year.
In a statistical report documenting security and judicial pressure on lawyers in Iran, HRANA demonstrates that lawyers — particularly those active in human rights and representing political prisoners and people arrested during the protests — have faced systematic repression by the Islamic Republic.
Measures taken against lawyers have included summonses, the opening of judicial cases, arrests, prison sentences, disbarment or suspension from practicing law, travel bans, and other judicial restrictions.
HRANA compiled data on the repression of lawyers between August and September 2025, and between August and September 2026.
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The figures show that lawyers in East Azerbaijan (northwest), Fars (central Iran), and Gilan (north) have collectively been targeted through cases brought against them by security agencies.
HRANA says it has verified the identities of 60 lawyers subjected to repression across 14 provinces. It also reports that there are at least another 75 lawyers concerned whose names have not been published.
According to the report, at least five lawyers — Mohammad Najafi, Javad Alikordi, Taher Naghavi, Seyyed Mehdi Karimi Farsi, and Golaleh Vatandoust — are currently serving prison sentences.
At least 11 other lawyers have been sentenced to prison. Nazanin Salari, Mahmoud Taravatrooy, Massoud Ahmadian, Elham Zeraatpisheh, Mehdi Ansari, Mehran Ansari, Babak Eslami-Farsani, Mohammadreza Faghihi, Saeed Sheikh, Seyyed Mohammadreza Razavifard, and Mohammad Tarighat Esfanjani have received prison sentences, in some cases accompanied by additional penalties.
The report also records the arrests of at least 34 identified lawyers during the period under review. Others have faced summonses, the opening of judicial cases, suspension or revocation of their law licenses, travel bans, and other restrictions.
In recent months, Zahra Naghshineh, Abolfazl Ranjbari, Yilmaz Mehrali-Beygloo, Shahrzad Sharbiani, Shadi Falahati, Hesam Pourahmadi, Tahereh Pouresmaeili, Mohammadreza Tak, Masoumeh Pourshahrani, Hamid Norouzi, Hadi Sharifzadeh, Dariush Ganjehpour-Ghashghaei, Astareh (Maryam) Ansari, Bahar Sahraian, Ebrahim Parsamehr, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Shahab Soleimani, and Bahareh Aghaei were arrested in various provinces.
Some were released after periods of detention upon posting bail or providing other forms of judicial security, while proceedings against others remain ongoing.
An examination of the chronology of the recorded cases shows that, following an increase in pressure on lawyers in Gilan Province in August–September 2025, December 2025–January 2026 was one of the most significant periods under review, according to HRANA.
During that period alone, at least 16 identified lawyers were arrested or subjected to judicial or security measures. Many of these arrests occurred in connection with nationwide protests.
Shima Ghoosheh, Mohammad-Hadi Jafarpour, Jafar Zarei, Jafar Keshavarz, Nazanin Baradaran, Enayatollah Karamati, Omid Darabi, Hossein Shokri, Zohreh Javani, Sepideh Taheri, Teymour Salari, Alireza Farzaneh Jajeromi, Fatemeh Rohandeh, Mohsen Darginejad, Amir Bahadorifar, and Massoud Shirmardi Shahghasemi are among the lawyers whose arrests were reported during this period.
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Some of these lawyers were subsequently released after posting bail or providing other forms of judicial security. Nevertheless, pressure on lawyers continued in the following months, with further arrests, summonses, and judicial cases recorded between January and March 2026.
The report’s statistical findings indicate that a significant portion of the 135 cases concerned collective measures taken against groups of lawyers whose individual identities have not necessarily been made public.
East Azerbaijan Province recorded the highest number of collective summonses during the period under review. According to available reports, the Judiciary’s Protection of Information Center summoned more than 40 lawyers who were members of the province’s Bar Association and opened cases against some of them. The charges in some of these cases reportedly included “propaganda against the system” and “spreading falsehoods.”
In Fars Province, Mostafa Ansari, head of the Committee for the Protection of Lawyers of the Fars and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Regional Bar Association, said that following the December 2025–January 2026 protests, judicial cases were opened against about 20 lawyers, 12 of whom were arrested.
In Gilan Province, judicial and security authorities summoned at least 10 lawyers, although they did not make their names public.
A lawyer who requested anonymity for security reasons told HRANA that, around October–November 2025, agents from the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC Intelligence) visited the offices or homes of several lawyers in Gilan Province, including the head and several officials of the province’s Bar Association. The agents confiscated their mobile phones and some of their belongings.
According to the lawyer, authorities also opened cases against two other lawyers. However, no information is available about their identities or the details of those cases.
