The lawyer representing the family of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Iranian woman who died in police custody last year, has been sentenced to a year in prison after being convicted of “conducting propaganda against the regime.”
Saleh Nikbakht was charged after the Ministry of Intelligence filed a complaint against him when he discussed Amini’s case in interviews with media outlets. He was sentenced Tuesday by the Islamic Revolutionary Court, according to reports sent to VOA.
Amini’s death sparked months of anti-government protests. Iranian police said she suffered a heart attack while in custody, but her family disputes that claim. Iranian authorities have rejected the family's request for a committee of independent doctors to investigate her death.
Nikbakht had further urged a reevaluation of the cause of Amini’s death by “five out of 12 distinguished doctors in the country," as proposed by her family.
Ali Rezaei, a lawyer representing Nikbakht, insisted that his client’s statements were rooted in his "legal obligations as an attorney" and that he had not committed any wrongdoing.