Appeals court upholds convictions against Yousef Emadi, Mehdi Rajabian and Hossein Rajabian, despite all three having no access to lawyers during trial

A film-maker and two musicians in Iran are each facing up to three years in jail after an appeals court in Tehran upheld their conviction in connection with their artisic activities, including distribution of underground music.

In a case that highlights the plight of those tried without access to legal representation, the three Iranian artists are at risk of imminent arrest following the recent confirmation of their prison sentences. The trio are currently free as Iran celebrates Persian new year holidays, Nowruz, but fear being arrested at any time when the two-week festive period ends next week.

Brothers Mehdi and Hossein Rajabian, 26 and 31, and their friend Yousef Emadi, 35, had been found guilty of “insulting Islamic sanctities”, “spreading propaganda against the system” and “illegal audio-visual activities” in a 2015 trial that activists said lasted no longer than three minutes. They were condemned to lengthy prison sentences without having access to lawyers whilst being interrogated, nor during the course of their trial.



Prisoners of conscience in Iran, especially those held on political grounds, are routinely put on trial without access to any lawyer at all or the lawyer of their choice. Some are given lawyers but are unable to meet them until the day of their trial. Lawyers complain of being intimidated and some have themselves fallen foul of the authorities for defending their clients, including Abdolfattah Soltani, who is serving a 13-year sentence.



Rajabian brothers and Emadi shared an office in the northern Iranian city of Sari prior to their initial arrest in October 2013 when they were held in an unknown location for 18 days before being taken into solitary confinement and subjected to rigorous interrogations for two months.



Mehdi Rajabian is the founder of the now blocked Iranian website Barg Music, which distributed unlicensed music, including many whose lyrics and messages were deemed offensive to the Iranian authorities or the country’s religion. Hossein Rajabian’s arrest is also believed to be connected with his feature film Inverted Triangle, which touched the issue of women’s right to divorce in the country.

According to the human rights campaigner, Amnesty, the three men were subjected to beatings and electric shocks to make forced confessions against themselves on camera while being in custody. Those confessions were then used as basis for their conviction in court, a familiar pattern used against prisoners of conscience in Iran.



In February, an appeals court upheld their sentences which include six year’s imprisonment and a fine of 200m rials (around £4000). They must each serve three years of their sentence in jail and the rest will be conditional on their “good behaviour”. The artists were arrested and then tried because of a complaint from the powerful Revolutionary Guards, which has a great deal of influence over the country’s judiciary.



“These sentences lay bare the absurdity of Iran’s criminal justice system, which brands individuals as criminals merely for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression through making music and films. These young men should never have been arrested, let alone brought to trial,” said Said Boumedouha, deputy director at Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa programme.



“These convictions flagrantly flout Iran’s obligation to respect the right to freedom of expression. If the sentences are ultimately carried out, these individuals will be prisoners of conscience.”

Human Rights Watch strongly criticised Iran for denying fair legal representation to those charged on national security and political crimes and said the new Iranian parliament should reverse amendements to the new criminal code which limits detainee’s access to lawyers of their choice.



“Defendants having access to the lawyer of their choice is a crucial safeguard for guaranteeing a fair trial in Iran,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW’s Middle East director. “Iran should immediately address this problematic provision in the law and take effective action against abuses committed in its judicial system.”

Journalists Davoud Asadi, Ehsan Mazandarani, and Issa Saharkhiz and Iranian-American father and son, Bagher Namazi and Siamak Namazi and Lebanese citizen Nizar Zakka, unionist Esmail Abdi are among those denied access to laywers while in prison.

