Massoud Shafiee, the lawyer who represented the three American hikers
in Iran, shared an open letter to the Iranian authorities with the
International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. In the letter, he calls
out the Iranian authorities for confiscating of his passport,
monitoring all his communications, and preventing him from continuing his professional activities as a lawyer.
Shafiee notes that all of these restrictions have been imposed
“without any judicial orders or legal rulings,” and that “nobody is
accountable.” In August 2012,
security forces searched his home and office, and arrested and interrogated him, though no charges were brought.
The full text of the letter is below.
Respectful Greetings,
My passport, stamped with an exit permit, has been confiscated for
nearly 600 days without any judicial orders or legal rulings, I am
banned from leaving the country, and nobody is accountable. I am an
independent lawyer and based on my profession I provide legal defense
for clients who come to me.
I would have much preferred not to write an open letter, but now I
feel I have to do it. This is a long story which must be told. It is an
old story with lawyers, and something we have to deal with on a daily
basis.
As soon as my American clients left Iran, and during my
representation of my other client Reza Shahabi, without any summonses or
notices being served, six plainclothes security forces entered my home
and offices with orders to search the premises, and arrested and
transferred me to Ward 209 of Evin Prison.
My telephone calls have been tapped and my emails and my Internet
interactions have been monitored in the past and are probably being
monitored right now; my livelihood, my professional, and my personal
life has been limited and, if necessary, I can share details of the
clear violations in this area and in my concluded cases. It appears that
these limitations are the result of my accepting to represent certain
clients, especially the American citizens, or my radio and television
and media interviews, and if this is the case, I would like to make the
following statement.
Representing my clients in all aspects of their legal representation
is one of my professional obligations, which I perform within the
framework of current, Sharia, and judicial laws of the country. The
significance of my representations, the related court rulings, and
interviews with the media about my non-Iranian clients have not been
actions in favor of my own professional interests, but on a par with our
country’s best interests and solving its political problems, issues
that instead of marginal discussions concentrate on the foundation and
implementation of execution of justice in our country.
My recent cases, which have been transparent and visible, were my
representations of Mr. Rasool Badaghi from the Iranian Teachers’
Association; Dr. Arash and Dr. Kamyar Alaei; Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh; Ms.
Sarah Shourd, Mr. Josh Fattal, and Mr. Shane Bauer, the three American
hikers; Mr. Reza Shahabi, Member of the Board of Directors of Tehran Bus
Company; and some Baha’is.
I have received no responses when I have contacted the President’s
Office, the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office, the Intelligence Ministry, the
Director General’s Office at the Tehran Province Justice Department, the
Security Deputy Prosecutor at Evin Prison, and Branch 6 of Evin Courts
Security Investigations. The Iranian Bar Association is also unable to
assist me. This open letter is written in response to these gentlemen’s
lack of action. In response to my letters demanding justice, some
pretend to be sleeping or increase their hostility against me, but God
knows that in my heart I have no wish other than justice.
Why have my rights as an independent lawyer been trampled without any
legal justification? And why have I been pushed to my limits with all
the familial, personal, professional, and earnings limitations imposed
on me? It appears that some, against their mission to guide the citizens
towards proper conduct and obedience of the law, impose other methods
on them. What does continuing such illegal limitations on me and
providing military-style answers through a booth inside Evin Prison
Courts in answer to my justified requests and postponing the resolution
to an unspecified time, tell me? Why don’t they realize that their
interests will be achieved in observing the laws for an independent
citizen?
Is it not true that the reflections of my representation of the three
American suspects led the world to believe that justice is carried out
in our country?
Is it not true that those who order such violations exacerbate
suspicions about implementation of justice, even for independent
citizens?
Such violations that destroy hope and close the space in which people
like myself can serve as a lawyer, deprive me of my basic rights to see
my family and my children, create personal and financial problems for
me, even if not deliberate, are not responsible acts, as they create
unfavorable thinking about Iran.
Without a doubt, the responsibility for any unfavorable consequences
of failure to remedy such violations of the professional, moral, and
financial aspects of my life rests with those who disregard the legal,
moral, and judicial standards of this case and those similar to it.
In closing, I am grateful to those who judge and reflect my legal
representations humanely and morally and in line with the best interests
of this country. I still believe that there are many political and
judicial officials in our country, and sometimes all it takes is to
point things out to them.
Respectfully,
Massoud Shafiee
Lawyer
