Payam Derafshan

<p>Payam Derafshan is an attorney at law and human rights advocate. He has defended several political and human rights activists including Kavous Seyed Emami, Mohammad Najafi, Nasrin Sotoudeh, and Vida Movahed.</p>

<p>During his time in ward 2-Alef of Evin Prison, some prison agents injected him with a syringe which led to convulsions that caused him to bite off a part of his tongue. Due to his repeating convulsions after the injection, he was transferred to Razi mental hospital in Amin Abad, where he suffered severe physical torture, including electric shock.</p> <symbol-timeline></symbol-timeline>

• <coverage-outsourcing id='30566'> <reference source='https://www.radiofarda.com/a/f4_a_group_lawyers_complain_judge_tilter_telegram/29211595.html'> Several lawyers, including Arash Keykhosravi, Abuzar Nasrollahi, Javad Parsa, Saeed Dehghan, Mohammad Moghimi, and Payam Derafshan, brought up a lawsuit against the investigator of Branch 2 of the Culture and Media Prosecutor's Office for ordering the filtering of Telegram </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='30565'> <reference source='https://www.hra-news.org/2018/hranews/a-16807/'> Farrokh Forouzan and Payam Derafshan were arrested. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='30569'> <reference source='https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/09/iran-arrests-of-lawyers-and-womens-rights-activists-signal-intensifying-crackdown-on-civil-society/'> Amnesty Organization has condemned the crackdown on human rights activists and lawyers and called for their release by issuing a statement </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='30567'> <reference source='https://twitter.com/vakilroaya/status/1037676056965271552?s=20&t=hgMS2EsPILOreYVJ3oCbQw'> He was released on bail </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='30568'> <reference source='https://twitter.com/vakilroaya/status/1259112676296441863?s=20&t=iIXGA3uCCfTlrwXzONnHyg'> The first branch of Karaj Revolutionary Court judge Mousa Asef Hosseini sentenced Mr. Derafshan to two years in prison and a two-year ban on attorney on the charge of "insulting the leadership." "The judge alleges that Mr. Derafshan was charged with his private chats.", Saeed Dehghan, the lawyer for the case, said. According to IPA, Judge Asef Hosseini is the head of the first branch of Karaj Revolutionary Court, and the verdict was probably issued by him. The judge did not allow Mr. Derafshan to review the case, and also prevented his lawyer's attendance in the trial </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='30884'> <reference source='https://persian.iranhumanrights.org/1399/02/payam-derafshan-sentenced/'> According to an interview of Saeed Dehghan (Payam Dorafashan's lawyer), with the Iranian Human Rights Campaign, the relevant judge is not authorized to issue a "deprivation of Advocacy" order, and it is the responsibility of Lawyers' Disciplinary Court. Mr. Dorafshan's lawyer was not allowed to attend court or study the case during the investigation </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='30804'> <reference source='https://www.radiozamaneh.com/507394'> Alborz Appellate court reduced Mr. Dorafashan prison sentence to one year and suspended his ban on advocacy </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='30971'> <reference source='https://twitter.com/vakilroaya/status/1449760394801729888?s=20&t=HKEe5LOwxSdJpaqD-oxwrQ'> He was arrested at his place of work. In a series of tweets about a year later, Mr. Derafshan’s attorney, Saeed Dehghan described the details of his client’s arrest and transfer to a security house. According to his accounts, at the time of the arrest 17 security agents confiscated all the computers and the client cases of Payam Derafshan from his office. Mr. Dehghan said his client was denied phone calls to family and attorneys to inform them of his situation. He believed that “keeping him (Derafshan) in a completely dark room without a window in the summer was the start of a destructive project using maximum mental and physical pressure”. Mr. Dehghan added: “The main focus of the IRGC Intelligence interrogators since entering the office was why did he (Derafshan) accept Kavous Seyed Emami as a client! Later during the interrogations this question still received the most attention and pressure.” As Mr. Dehghan describes, during these arduous interrogations, they did not ask Mr. Derafshan about his own charge which was “disseminating lies in an interview with BBC Persian about the bad conditions at the women’s prison in Shahr-e-Ray”; instead, they asked him about his other clients’ cases, like the suspicious death of Kavous Seyed Emami and the reason for accepting Nasrin Sotoudeh as a client. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='39887'> <reference source='https://twitter.com/vakilroaya/status/1274678002320838657?s=20&t=HKEe5LOwxSdJpaqD-oxwrQ'> A group of attorneys, including Payam Derafshan’s attorney Saeed Dehghan, expressed concern about his unknown whereabouts and cause for arrest. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='39884'> <reference source='https://twitter.com/vakilroaya/status/1275801443308572673?s=20&t=WwKqO6-xzMNj8ooseCSzHg'> Payam Derafshan was transferred from Evin's temporary holding to the hospital. This was reported by his attorney, Saeed Dehghan, in a tweet. About a year later, in a series of tweets about his client, Mr. Dehghan wrote that ward 2-Alef of Evin Prison, Mr. Derafshan objected to the terrible conditions of the solitary confinements; three agents took him to an area in the ward, which was not the infirmary, and injected him with a syringe. After the injection, in that same cell, he starts to convulse in his sleep; Mr. Derafshan bites off half of his tongue during the convulsions. Mr. Dehghan said the next morning he was transferred to a hospital with an ambulance and first they do an operation on his tongue. Due to his shakes and convulsions and confusion about his surroundings, he was moved to Neurosurgery. Mr. Derafhshan stated that during this whole time, the investigator kept his condition hidden from his family and attorneys, who constantly visited the Evin prosecutor’s office. Regarding Mr. Derafshan’s release from the hospital, Mr. Dehghan said: “While the doctors were trying to identify the content of the injection and treat the symptoms, IRGC intelligence agents arrived at the hospital. They said the investigator has agreed to change his detention to bail, so we need to go to the prosecutor’s office; but the hospital will not allow your release unless you accept the consequences on paper.” Mr. Derafshan believes the agents and signs his own release from the hospital, but the agents directly take him to Judge Moghiseh at the revolutionary court. Mr. Dehghan continues: “Payam Derafshan was taken to judge Moghiseh and had to tolerate his insults and the mockery of the interrogators while he was unable to defend himself or respond, due to the inflation of his tongue after surgery and the bleeding. In such horrible condition, he was being insulted and yelled at by Judge Moghiseh.” Mr. Dehghan went on to explain in his tweets that due to the surgery stitches and the excessive inflation of his tongue, chewing and eating food was almost impossible; Mr. Derafshan also needed professional care to prevent convulsions; but despite all that, he was transferred to general population ward in Evin Prison. According to Mr. Dehghan, he (Derafshan) had more convulsions in the general population ward, and they transferred him to a mental hospital in handcuffs and fetters. There he received electroshock treatments which in addition to exacerbating the problem, seriously damaged his brain and so he loses consciousness. It was also mentioned that in the mental hospital, Derafshan complained about the handcuffs and fetters which were “constant torture”, so the prison guards beat him up after encouragement from two orderlies. Mr. Dehghan describes his client’s health in this hospital as “critical” and said the family of Mr. Derafshan paid the doctor at the mental hospital to sign the release and allow his return to prison. He tweeted: “[Payam Derafshan] was able to escape the conditions that would have certainly brought him the same fate as departed Behnam Mahjoubi.” Behnam Mahjoubi was one of the Gonabadi Dervishes arrested for protesting. He was repeatedly taken to this mental hospital and finally passed away in March 2021 while in custody. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='31426'> <reference source='https://twitter.com/vakilroaya/status/1280080526817320960?s=20&t=O2g8aMCp76yvhLhGAzefIw'> Payam Derafshan’s attorney, Mr. Dehghan tweeted that his client’s first trial session was held at the revolutionary court. In the series of tweets that he posted about a year later, Mr. Dehghan explained that despite his client’s severe illness, Judge Afshari did not accept to set bail instead of detention, and Mr. Derafshan was held in custody until his final verdict. Sometime later, in an interview with Ensaf News, Payam Derafshan explained the reasons for his arrest and conviction. Before his arrest, he had interviewed with BBC Persian regarding his client Sahar Tabar (Fatemeh Khishvand) testing positive for coronavirus. He told Ensaf News that the court took this interview as the instance for the charge of “disseminating lies with intent to disturb public opinion”. In his interview, Mr. Derafshan denied the accusation and said Sahar Tabar was truly sick. During his trial, Mr. Derafshan repeatedly stated that the illness of his client was confirmed by medical experts, but despite the evidence, the Judge sentenced him to two years and six months in prison, which was later reduced to two years. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='31493'> According to IPA, Payam Darafshan (the lawyer), has been sentenced to two years and six months in prison under Article 134 by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court, headed by Judge Afshari. The court acquitted him of "collusion and planning to act against the national security." The verdicts were issued on charges of "disturbing the public opinion through spreading lies," "carrying illegal taser and tear gas" and "propaganda against the system". </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='31662'> <reference source='https://twitter.com/vakilroaya/status/1285947146664116225?s=20&t=HKEe5LOwxSdJpaqD-oxwrQ'> The 36th branch of Tehran’s appeal court approved his sentence of two years and six months in prison. His attorney, Saeed Dehghan tweeted that his client is in need of serious medical treatment. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='32027'> <reference source='https://twitter.com/vakilroaya/status/1292854817426153473?s=20&t=x8qhV4zE9tyeXKt4ZCVyZQ'> According to his attorney, his two years and six months prison sentence was reduced to two years in accordance with the new law. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='33028'> <reference source='https://www.hra-news.org/2020/hranews/a-26980/'> HRANA reported his medical furlough. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='37198'> <reference source='https://twitter.com/vakilroaya/status/1314925404822659072?s=20&t=HKEe5LOwxSdJpaqD-oxwrQ'> His attorney announced on Twitter that he had returned to prison at the end of his medical leave. He said the “summon with the threat of confiscating the bail” was illegal and highlighted that the medical examiner believes he needs three months of medical leave. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='37199'> IPA sources reported his medical leave. </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='37200'> <reference source='https://twitter.com/vakilroaya/status/1449760422903566336?s=20&t=WwKqO6-xzMNj8ooseCSzHg'> Payam Derafshan’s attorney, Saeed Dehghan, announced on Twitter that his client was recently released on parole and is now completing his medical treatment. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>