Abdolfattah Soltani is a lawyer and member of Iran’s Defenders of Human Rights Center. In an interview with Rooz, Soltani announces that a Tehran court has barred him from representing detained activist Sohrab Razzaghi.
Soltani said, "Mr. Razzaghi’s family went to court but were not allowed to designate an attorney. We have not yet signed an agreement with him."
Soltani adds, "It is possible to defend someone only after an attorney-client agreement has been signed. Unfortunately, many political detainees are not granted access to an attorney during the discovery process. When an attorney wants to speak with the defendant, they either do not allow it or, at most, say 'leave an attorney-client agreement on the table and leave.' Basically, then, political detainees do not have access to an attorney during the discovery process."
Soltani complains that this is against the law: "According to civil procedure laws the prosecutor must explain two things to the defendant: the subject of the charge, and the reason for the charge. The attorney must also be informed of the subject of and reasons for the charge. In reality, however, this is not observed in cases where the defendant is held for political reasons. Officials even prevent lawyers from getting involved and learning about interrogations. The result is a complete lack of respect for law. As far as I know, Mr. Razzaghi was arrested on Wednesday, so he should have been arraigned by Thursday. But we don't know what has happened. In fact when courts dos not allow an attorney to meet with his clients and receive information about the charges against the defendant they are in violation of the most basic procedural laws. This means that no part of the process will be just."
Soltani continued, "I can say with confidence that more than 95 percent of political detainees have not committed any crime. What they have done is either writing an article, or giving a speech, or participating in a legal gathering, or criticizing an official, none of which is an instance of a crime. They arrest someone without having any reason for his guilt, and then they are forced to torture the defendant into confessing some crime that he never committed in the first place. Part of this process is to keep him away from his family and attorney. In this way, they create a case for the defendant which they can use in later stages to issue a conviction that they had in mind in the first place."
Soltani explained that the same scenario will possibly be implemented in Razzaghi's case: "It is very probable that Mr. Razzaghi's case will also follow the same trend, because most of the cases we have dealt with have had the same process. The latest instance was the case of three Amir Kabir University students, Ghassaban, Tavakkoli, and Mansouri, who have been in prison since last spring. They have forced these students into confessing crimes that they did not commit. They have refuted their admissions in court but, unfortunately, have been sentenced to two, two-and-a-half, and three year prison terms. Right now, their case is in the appeals court and we hope that the court overturns their unjust convictions. Most political prisoners are in a similar situation."
Sohrab Razzaghi is the founder and director of the Volunteer Activists (Koneshgaran’e Davtalab) society, a civil society group involved in strengthening social networks in Iran. He was arrested last Wednesday in Tehran.
