Mohammad Reza Faghihi begins serving five-year prison sentence
On 21 January 2025, human rights defender Mohammad Reza Faghihi began serving a five-year prison sentence on the charge of “gathering and collusion with the intention of acting against national security.”
Mohammad Reza Faghihi is a human rights defender and lawyer who has represented numerous human rights defenders and political prisoners. He is a member of the Board of Trustees and Board of Directors of the Prisoners’ Rights Defense Association and a former member of the Human Rights Commission of the Central Bar Association.
On 21 January 2025, human rights defender Mohammad Reza Faghihi began serving a five-year prison sentence on the charge of “gathering and collusion with the intention of acting against national security.”
Mohammad Reza Faghihi is a human rights defender and lawyer who has represented numerous human rights defenders and political prisoners. He is a member of the Board of Trustees and Board of Directors of the Prisoners’ Rights Defense Association and a former member of the Human Rights Commission of the Central Bar Association.
The verdict, which was confirmed on 7 October 2024 by Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, additionally bars him from practicing law for two years, prohibits him from membership in political groups for two years, and prevents him from leaving Iran for two years.
On 12 September 2023, the case was transferred to Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, despite the fact that the majority of cases related to the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests were pardoned following a general amnesty issued by the Iranian judiciary in February 2023.
The human rights defender was charged with “gathering and collusion with the intention of acting against national security” for sending an SMS to inform colleagues about a gathering in front of the Bar Association in October 2022.
On 12 October 2022, Mohammad Reza Faghihi was arrested at a gathering organized by the Tehran Bar Association in the context of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests. A case was subsequently opened against him at Branch 7 of the Evin Court in District 13, but he was released on bail due to the absence of concrete criminal evidence.
Front Line Defenders expresses serious concern about the arbitrary sentencing and judicial harassment of Mohammad Reza Faghihi, believing that he is being targeted for his peaceful human rights activities, including representing political prisoners and exercising his legitimate rights to freedom of association and assembly in Iran.
Front Line Defenders urges the Iranian authorities to:
- Immediately and unconditionally release Mohammad Reza Faghihi and quash the convictions against him;
- Ensure that his treatment in detention adheres to the conditions set out in the ‘Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment’, adopted by UN General Assembly resolution 43/173 of 9 December 1988;
- Cease the targeting of human rights defenders in Iran and ensure that they can carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisal and free of all restrictions, including judicial harassment.
