Abstract
Lawyers play a vital role in upholding human rights, yet their success depends on the level of democracy and the structure of power in each state. In non-democratic states, human rights law is often considered to be a political issue and is consequently portrayed as a security threat. This chapter examines the role of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), the only Iranian organisation to provide pro-bono services to protect citizens’ rights and seek rights-based law reform. By examining the work of DHRC, this chapter explores the objectives, strategies and challenges faced by lawyers seeking to improve the human rights situation in Iran. In giving an account of the stages of a legal case taken on by the author as a member of DHRC, this chapter demonstrates the complexity of manoeuvring the judicial system in order to safeguard human rights and establish just rule of law in Iran. The members of DHRC conducted their services under the assumption that human rights were apolitical. Yet the closure of the organisation in 2008 by the government proved that human rights and the activities of civil society continue to be considered a threat by the Iranian government. By politicising human rights, the Iranian government was able to successfully block progress in the name of national security. Ironically, the hostility of the Iranian government towards human rights has only forced human rights defenders and activists to revise and refine their strategies, rather than succumb to intimidation.
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Notes
- 1.
Shirin Ebadi, interview with Leila Alikarami, July 2017.
- 2.
Ibid.
- 3.
Personal observation of the author.
- 4.
Note j, paragraph 6 of Article 2 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran (hereafter Iranian constitution).
- 5.
Amitabh Pal, ‘Helen Thomas [sic] Interview’, Progressive, 1 September 2004, http://progressive.org/magazine/helen-thomas-interview/.
- 6.
Article 26, Iranian constitution.
- 7.
One of the greatest endeavors facilitated by the centre was the formulation of the National Council for Peace on 19 November 2007. The coalition was established after the threat of US military action against Iran after the Iraq War. A diverse group of political leaders, actors, artist, students, physicians, professors, lawyers and others came together for the sole purpose of voicing their protest against a potential war. The impact was not only to avoid war but also to strengthen the voice of civil society within Iran, calling for stronger human rights practices. The National Council for Peace believed that the stifling of true democracy would only result in the oppression of civil society and called for open dialogue with the government to enhance the rights of civil-society groups.
- 8.
Shirin Ebadi, interview with Leila Alikarami, August 2017.
- 9.
Article 35, Iranian constitution.
- 10.
Article 190, Criminal Procedure Law.
- 11.
According to Parvin Ardalan, a renowned Iranian feminist: ‘This theory, in reality, revolves around the large, more encompassing theory of conspiracy, which sees social movements as the breeding ground for soft revolutions, intent on toppling the government. The summons, interrogation and arrests of these social activists demonstrates once again, that security forces have chosen to look from the outside in, and search for the footprints of the “enemy” in explaining the demands of these groups, rather than choosing to ensure national security by facilitating conditions which bring about appropriate responses to the just demands of social activists.’ Parvin Ardalan, ‘Who is Accused of Being a “Threat to Civil Security?”’, Rooz, 25 May 2007, http://www.roozonline.com/english/news3/newsitem/article/who-is-accused-of-being-a-threat-to-civil-security.html.
- 12.
Nahid Keshavarz, ‘Interview with Jelveh Javaheri: From a Reading Group to the Campaign for One Million Signatures’, trans. M. S., Iran Women Solidarity, 30 December 2007, http://iran-women-solidarity.net/spip.php?article123. Originally published on Change for Equality, http://www.we-change.org/english/spip.php?article196.
- 13.
Ibid.
- 14.
For more information about some individual cases, see Maryam Hosseinkhah, trans. H. Milan, ‘Detentions and Summons against Campaigners for Gender Equality’, Change for Equality, 24 February 2008, http://we-change.org/site/english/spip.php?article225.
- 15.
The Revolutionary Court is a type of Special Court which was established during the 1979 revolution to deal with ‘revolutionary cases’. In 1983 the Jurisdiction of the Revolutionary Courts and Prosecution Office Act was approved by the Majlis, creating this court. The court was established on the heels of the revolution and still exists today. The court investigates the following offences: (1) all offenses against the internal and external security and mohārebeh and efsaāde fel arz; (2) insulting the Founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Supreme Leader; (3) conspiracy against the Islamic Republic of Iran or armed action and terrorism and destruction of institutions; (4) espionage; (5) all crimes relating to drug trafficking; (6) disputes related to Article 49 of the constitution.
- 16.
The law of Criminal Procedure provides that lawyers should have access to their clients and to the official case notes. However, judges have the discretion to bar defendants’ access to lawyers in ‘sensitive cases’. Article 3 of the Law on Respect for Legitimate Freedoms and Safeguarding Citizens’ Rights, enacted in 2004, requires courts and prosecutors’ offices to respect the right of the accused and defendants to a legal defence and to provide them with the opportunity to be represented by a lawyer and to use the services of experts.
- 17.
Article 32, Iranian constitution.
- 18.
Article 38, Iranian constitution.
- 19.
Article 27, Iranian constitution.
- 20.
Article 169, Iranian constitution; Article 2, Islamic Criminal Code (2013).
- 21.
Shirin Ebadi, Until We Are Free (New York: Random House, 2016), 98–106.
- 22.
Mohammad Sharif resigned during the early years of the establishment of the centre. Here, I only discuss the cases of the lawyers. However, Narges Mohammadi, the centre’s vice president, was also sentenced to a long prison term. She is currently in prison.
- 23.
He was awarded the Nuremberg International Human Rights Award in 2009 for his human rights activities. Nevertheless, the Iranian authorities refused to allow Soltani to leave the country in order to attend the award ceremony in Nuremberg.
- 24.
Human Rights Office of the City of Nuremberg, ‘Background Information—Abdolfattah Soltani’, January 2017, https://www.nuernberg.de/imperia/md/menschenrechte/dokumente/menschenrechtspreis/preistraeger/soltani/background-information_abdolfattah-soltani_01-2017.pdf.
- 25.
Article 134, Islamic Criminal Code.
- 26.
Shirin Ebadi, interview with Leila Alikarami, August 2017.
- 27.
Ibid.
- 28.
Ibid.
- 29.
Saeed Kamali Dehghan, ‘Iranian Lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah Sentenced to Nine Years in Jail’, Guardian, 4 May 2012, https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2012/may/03/iran-lawyer-mohammad-ali-dadkhah-sentenced.
- 30.
Ibid.
- 31.
Nasrin Sotoudeh, ‘Iran. Human Rights Lawyer Unexpectedly Released Early’, Lawyers for Lawyers, accessed 10 September 2017, http://www.advocatenvooradvocaten.nl/lawyers/nasrin-sotoudeh/.
- 32.
Deutsche Welle, ‘The Centre for Supporters of Human Rights Is the Twin Sister of the DHRC’, 10 May 2013, http://www.dw.com/fa-ir/%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%85%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AD%D9%82%D9%88%D9%82-%D8%A8%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D8%AE%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%B1-%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%82%D9%84%D9%88%DB%8C-%DA%A9%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AD%D9%82%D9%88%D9%82-%D8%A8%D8%B4%D8%B1/a-16805662.
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Alikarami, L. (2018). Iranian Lawyers for Human Rights: The Defenders of Human Rights Center. In: Barlow, R., Akbarzadeh, S. (eds) Human Rights and Agents of Change in Iran. Studies in Iranian Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8824-7_4
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