Law students and young lawyers in Iran are reporting for JURIST on protests and related developments in Iran since the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. One of our correspondents files this from Tehran. For security and privacy reasons, we are withholding her name. 

Protests are still going on in Iran and protesters are still being severely suppressed and shot at. Yesterday, protest rallies were held in most cities of Iran following the call for rallies. Lawyers in Tehran also gathered in front of Iranian Central Bar Association in protest against the violent and illegal treatment of the police and judicial system towards people and the widespread arrest of people and lawyers. These lawyers were dispersed by firing tear gas and some of them were arrested. The conditions in terms of respect for human rights are disastrous. Internet speed has been severely reduced and the possibility of free access to information has been severely limited. Only a few internal sites can be used without a filter breaker. VPNs often fail after a few days. Even a site like LinkedIn is now filtered. On the days of protest rallies, Google is also filtered.

Lawyers are not allowed and do not have the possibility to defend political detainees and in some cases, when they go to the judicial system, they are arrested along with their clients. Some lawyers who inform about the rights of detainees on their Instagram and Twitter pages have been arrested.

The government uses children from poor and marginalized families as forces of repression by paying them money and supplies. In recent days’ police have attacked some girls’ high schools where protest slogans have been chanted inside the school, and a number of students have been arrested. Tear gas is thrown inside some high schools, and university students’ dormitories are regularly attacked. Shotguns and plastic bullets are widely used against people. Protesters are wildly fired upon in border towns. Many people do not have access to doctors and hospitals because military forces identify people who have been shot in hospitals, and ambulances are used to transport repression forces.