“Since the beginning of nationwide protests in Iran in September, activists say at least 16 human rights lawyers have been arrested across the country, including four recently in the country's East Azerbaijan province. Local sources say dozens of Azerbaijani-Turkish lawyers are coming under increasing government pressure for criticizing the crackdown on demonstrations and providing legal aid to those arrested during anti-government demonstrations. The East Azerbaijan provincial bar association is allegedly also under scrutiny,” reads the article.

A source living inside Iran who is familiar with the lawyers' cases told VOA that in recent days, four attorneys working in Tabriz, the largest Azerbaijani population center in northwestern Iran, were sentenced to prison and banned from leaving the country. The source, who declined to speak on the record about the prosecutions for fear of government retaliation, also said the government opened disciplinary files for more than 50 active attorney members of the bar.

The increasing pressure on lawyers who are willing to defend people facing protest-related charges in Iranian courts can mean detainees do not have a lawyer of their choice or they have no attorney at all.

In recent years, Mohammad Reza Faqihi and Sina Yousefi, as well as a few other Azerbaijani attorneys, have defended several Turkish-language rights activists facing similar charges of spreading propaganda or "disturbing public opinion" by Iran's revolutionary courts.

Reportedly, East Azerbaijan's bar association got involved early in the protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, in Iran's morality police custody. Just a few weeks after nationwide protests erupted, the bar association formed a "Defense Committee" to provide legal aid to those arrested in connection with the protests.

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