Another Lawyer Arrested in Iran; Reason Unknown

Iranian security forces arrested lawyer Mohammad-Reza Kargarpisheh Moghadam on February 14, the activist HRANA news agency reported. 

The arrest reportedly occurred on a street in Karaj, near Tehran, while Kargarpisheh was on his way to his office.

He was subsequently transferred to a detention facility in the city.

The reason for the lawyer’s arrest has yet to be disclosed, according to a source close to the Kargarpisheh family.

Last month, two United Nations experts denounced the “enormous obstacles and pressures” faced by Iranian lawyers who provided, or attempted to provide, legal support to protesters.

At least 66 lawyers have been arrested and detained since nationwide protests erupted in September 2022, “apparently in an attempt to both intimidate them and to prevent them from representing protestors,” the experts said in a statement.

Eleven of these lawyers have been sentenced and 47 have been released pending trial, they said, adding that many others were targeted with intimidation, harassment and disbarment.