Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Court has sentenced prominent Iranian attorney Mohammad Saleh Nikbakht, who represents the family of the late Mahsa Amini, to one year in prison on a charge of "propaganda against the system" after he conducted interviews with several foreign media outlets, including RFERL’s Radio Farda.
Ali Rezaei, the attorney for Nikbakht, said on October 18 that the sentence is the maximum penalty typically meted out in such cases. He added that in past incidents where individuals were persecuted for interviews with overseas Persian-speaking media, the prison terms were considerably shorter.
Furthermore, the court's verdict does not stop at imprisonment for Nikbakht as he is additionally prohibited from activities on social media as part of his punishment.
The interviews that led to Rezaei's conviction included discussions on issues such as the plight of protesters in Iran, criticism of the airing of political confessions on state media, and the reasons behind prohibiting motorcycle licenses for Iranian women.
Another significant point of contention has been Nikbakht's public disagreement with the forensic medical conclusion surrounding the death of his client, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Authorities had attributed her death while in police custody for an alleged head scarf violation to a heart attack and an underlying disease, a stance that has been vocally challenged by Nikbakht.
Nikbakht has said often that speaking to both domestic and foreign media is not a criminal act as "only if the content of the interview is against the law can it be considered a crime."
He has a long history of representing Iranian personalities in rights-related cases, including most recently that of the acclaimed filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who was released from prison days after going on a hunger strike to protest “the illegal and inhumane behavior" of Iran's judiciary and security apparatus.
Amini's death in September 2022 has been a trigger for recent civil unrest in Iran, with thousands rallying for greater freedoms and women's rights, marking one of the most significant challenges to the Islamic government since the 1979 revolution.
The Iran Human Rights group, based in Norway, has reported that the protests have led to the deaths of at least 587 individuals, inclusive of several young people.