Imprisonment of Mehrsad Shahidi’s Family Lawyer: A New Chapter of Islamic Republic’s Pressure on Defense Attorneys
The issuance of a nine-month prison sentence for Babak Eslami Farsani, the lawyer representing the family of Mehrsad Shahidi, has once again drawn attention to the increasing pressure the Islamic Republic is placing on independent attorneys. According to human rights organizations, this measure is part of a broader suppression process targeting individuals seeking justice and accountability in cases related to the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests.
Babak Eslami Farsani, a practicing lawyer and defense counsel for the family of Mehrsad Shahidi—a victim of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests in Arak—has been sentenced to nine months of imprisonment by Branch 23 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court. According to human rights sources, the sentence was issued on charges of “propaganda against the system” and has been formally served to him.
According to information released by the human rights organization Hengaw, the sentence was served to the lawyer on Sunday, August 2. He had previously been summoned in June of this year to appear before the fourth investigative branch of the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office of Tehran’s District 33 to hear the charges against him. Additionally, due to his acceptance of representing Mehrsad Shahidi’s family, another legal case has been filed against him at the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office in Arak.
Babak Eslami Farsani’s case had previously drawn the attention of international organizations. The Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), in a letter addressed to the president of the Islamic Republic, expressed concerns about the legal proceedings against this lawyer and emphasized that his prosecution is directly related to his professional activity in defending Mehrsad Shahidi’s family. The Council called on the Islamic Republic’s authorities to close the case against him and recalled that “lawyers must be able to perform their professional duties without fear of retaliation, obstruction, intimidation or harassment.”
The Center for Human Rights in Iran, in a recent report, has considered Babak Eslami Farsani’s case alongside the detention and conviction of several other practicing lawyers as evidence of intensified pressure on independent attorneys following nationwide protests and recent events in Iran. The report states that the treatment of lawyers who take on political cases, ideological matters, or cases involving protesters has become a recurring pattern within the Islamic Republic’s judicial structure.
This lawyer’s case is also a continuation of a process that began last year. In November 2025, human rights media outlets reported that he had been summoned to the Arak Prosecutor’s Office on charges of “propaganda against the Islamic Republic” for representing Mehrsad Shahidi’s family—charges that have now resulted in a prison sentence.
Mehrsad Shahidi, a 19-year-old from Arak, lost his life during the nationwide protests of 2022. From the beginning, his family sought to uncover the truth and hold those responsible for their son’s death accountable, and Babak Eslami Farsani took on the legal representation of this case.
According to many human rights observers, the issuance of judicial sentences against lawyers who defend families of justice-seekers or political prisoners is not merely a legal matter; rather, it is part of a broad policy by the Islamic Republic to silence critical voices through judicial, security, and professional pressure. In such an environment, even lawyers performing their legal duty in defending their clients face the risk of summons, case filing, and conviction—a process that, according to international organizations, poses a serious threat to the independence of the legal profession and citizens’ right to fair access to justice.
