TEHRAN: Iran has sentenced the lawyer of Mahsa Amini, the Iranian Kurd whose death triggered widespread protests in 2022, to one year in prison for “propaganda” against the state, local media reported on Tuesday.

“My client Saleh Nikbakht has unfortunately been condemned to the maximum penalty, one year in prison, for propaganda activity against the system,” his lawyer Ali Rezai, was quoted as saying by the Ham Mihan newspaper website.

Nikbakht was the lawyer for the parents of Amini, 22, who died in custody on September 16, 2022, after being arrested by the morality police who accused her of violating the strict dress code imposed on women in the Islamic republic.

At the end of August, Rezai announced that a trial had begun in Tehran against his client for “having spoken to foreign and local media about the Mahsa Amini case”.

Nikbakht had indicated at the end of Sept 2022 that the Amini family had filed a complaint against the police officers who arrested her.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2023