Saleh Nikbakht

Saleh (Mohammed Saleh) Nikbakht is a lawyer. He has represented Mahsa Amini's case as well as many political prisoners and defendants. Saleh Nikbakht was sentenced to prison for an interview with domestic and foreign media and protesting the theory of the Forensic Medicine Commission regarding the death of Mahsa Amini.

• <coverage-outsourcing id='56975'> <reference source='https://kurdistanhumanrights.org/fa/news-fa/prison-sentences-fa/2023/10/02/p29778/'> The Amini family's attorney, Saleh Nikbakht, was charged with propaganda against the state. The second branch of investigation at Evin Court opened a case against him under the supervision of Mahmoud Haji Moradi at the complaint of the Ministry of Intelligence. Mr. Nikbakht told Faraz website that his interviews from 2020 to September 2022 were the basis for this case. he said his interviews cannot be considered propaganda against the state because they are criticizing authorities and that is not a crime. Mr. Nikbakht's attorney Ali Rezaei was not allowed in the investigation session. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='56973'> <reference source='https://kurdistanhumanrights.org/fa/news-fa/prison-sentences-fa/2023/10/02/p29778/'> The court hearing of Saleh Nikbakht's case was held in Branch 28 of Tehran Revolutionary Court. According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, in this meeting, the judge asked Saleh Nikbakht his questions about the evidence of the case, and this lawyer, while rejecting the accusation, considered the filing of this case against the law. According to this report, due to the prolonged duration of the session and the judge's determination that the presence of an expert from the Ministry of Intelligence and hearing the claims of this security institution is necessary, the trial was postponed to another session. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network wrote that the plaintiff of this case was the Ministry of Intelligence and 9 counts of Saleh Nikbakht's interview during the past four years were included in the case as examples and evidence of the charge. It is stated in this report that two of these interviews are about the statements of lawyers, civil activists, and journalists in condemning the attack of the Turkish army on Syrian Kurdistan and the violation of the sovereignty of this country. An interview about a Kurdish political prisoner sentenced to death in prison in Iran (Kamal Hassan Ramezan) who was saved from execution and released from prison with Mr. Nikbakht's help as his lawyer, an interview about the illegal treatment of some border police agents of Iran's police force with Afghan immigrants, criticism of non-compliance with the law on the use of weapons and the killing of Kurds, criticism of the broadcast of the forced confessions of the detainees on the radio, and finally, the interview about the case of Mahsa Amini, and the objection to the forensic theory and the ignoring of the requests of the lawyers and the family in the matter of the murder of Mahsa (Zhina), are among the things mentioned in the indictment. In the continuation of this report, while pointing to the pressure of the Ministry of Intelligence on Mr. Nikbakht to accept the forensic theory about the death of Masha (Zhina) Amini, it is stated: > In the text of the complaint, the Ministry of Intelligence clearly stated that in their opinion, Mr. Saleh Nikbakht played the main role in encouraging the Amini family and especially her father to pursue the case of their child's death. For this reason, he should either accept the theory of the commission and announce it, or he should be dealt with by the judiciary. "It seems that the evidence of including his previous interviews is just an excuse to increase the volume of the case, and the main issue is the prosecution of the case of the murder of Masha (Zhina) Amini by this lawyer. In the report of the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, it is stated that Mr. Nikbakht insists on convening the meeting of the commission with the presence of doctors introduced by Mahsa Amini's family, and he has announced that he will be willing to accept the theory of forensic medicine only if the meeting is held with the presence of those doctors, who are all famous figures in various fields of medicine in Iran. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='56974'> <reference source='https://kurdistanhumanrights.org/fa/news-fa/prison-sentences-fa/2023/10/02/p29778/'> The second session of Saleh Nikbakht's trial was held. According to Kurdistan Human Rights Network, in this session, Judge Amouzad delivered his questions in writing to the lawyer of the Amini family, who also answered the questions raised. The report stated: > Apparently, both the expert of the Ministry of Intelligence and the head of the court focused on Mr. Nikbakht's non-acceptance of the forensic theory about the cause of death of Mahsa Amini. And as it was predicted before, the rest of the accusations included in the case were not very important to them." > According to the report of Kurdistan Human Rights Network, Mr. Nikbakht stated in the court session that the theory of the Forensic Medicine Commission was not a "divine ruling" and did not even have "certainty" and "authenticity . He said: > Legally, we have the right to object to it. We have exercised our right and since the Amini family and I are not familiar with the basics of medical science, we have presented the list of our trusted doctors, all recognized figures of various medical sciences in Iran, to the court for a commission meeting with the presence of at least 5 people. The 12 nominated doctors should hold it and our doubts and objections should be re-examined in this expert meeting. According to this report, Mr. Nikbakht announced at the end of the trial session that considering that Mahsa Amini's death is still suspicious of murder, due to his position as a lawyer, he declares it a "suspicious death" and still objects to the commission's theory. And until the truth of the matter is known, "he cannot be silent about it. Regarding other issues in the case, the report states that although the court did not focus much on other issues of the case, but Mr. Nikbakht stated that none of these issues are included in the list of examples of propaganda activity against the state, but are completely legal criticisms of the case of violation of the law regarding Afghan citizens or refugees. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='56972'> <reference source='https://tinyurl.com/2znewfpv'> Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, headed by Mohammad Reza Amouzad, sentenced him to one year in prison for the charge of propaganda against the state, and as a supplementary punishment, he was sentenced to two years of ban on his online activities. Ali Rezaei, Saleh Nikbakht's lawyer, announced in an interview with Shargh network that the court has sentenced his client to the harshest punishment for propaganda against the state, regardless of the defense. He emphasized that in similar cases, the defendants who were prosecuted for more interviews than Mr. Nikbakht with foreign media, have received lesser sentences. Ali Rezaei reported that they will file their objection to the verdict in the near future and clarified: > In the conversation I had with the client after the verdict was announced, he has no desire to protest and appeal against this verdict. Of course, I am aware of my professional duties, and despite his displeasure, I will act in this regard and hope that this sentence will be overturned at a later stage. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='56976'> <reference source='https://www.instagram.com/p/CyopspMRB6E'> The Workers' Union of the Tehran and Suburbs Vahed Bus Company published a statement condemning the one-year prison sentence for Saleh Nikbakht. The authors of this statement, poined out that this lawyer has also represented a large number of labor activists and teachers in his legal record. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='56977'> <reference source='https://twitter.com/MaryLawlorhrds/status/1716397123816571043'> Mary Lalor, the UN special rapporteur, pointed to the one-year prison sentence for Saleh Nikbakht and asked for the suspension of this sentence. Ms. Lalor wrote: > Iran must stop the widespread persecution of human rights defenders and journalists. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='56978'> <reference source='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2qx7g7JTYw'> Saleh Nikbakht, the lawyer of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini's family, received the Sakharov Award on behalf of this family while attending the European Parliament. Mercedeh Shahinkar, one of the victims of the 2022 protests, and Afsoun Najafi, the sister of Hadith Najafi, one of the victims of the women's uprising, were present at this ceremony. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='56971'> <reference source='https://kurdistanhumanrights.org/fa/news-fa/freedom-fa/freedom-of-expression-fa/2023/12/23/p31340/'> Saleh Nikbakht, the lawyer of Mahsa Amini's family, was interrogated on Friday evening at Tehran's "Imam Khomeini" airport after returning from France, and in addition to his passport and mobile phone, the Sakharov Prize plaque of the European Parliament, which was awarded to Mahsa Amini, was also confiscated. While announcing this news, Kurdistan Human Rights Network quoted a source and wrote that the security agents informed Mr. Nikbakht that he was forbidden to leave the country by the judicial authorities. According to this source, in the past days, the ruling of Mr. Nikbakht was sent to his Sana system, and he was also notified that he should report himself to the first branch of the Moghaddas Prosecutor's Office in the coming days to serve the sentence of one year of in prison. According to Kurdistan Human Rights Network, Saleh Nikbakht's one-year prison sentence was confirmed by the appeals court, but his lawyer requested a retrial, which was referred to the 9th branch of the Supreme Court. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='56981'> <reference source='https://twitter.com/ali_rzab/status/1753073526142304551'> Ali Rezaei, Saleh Nikbakht's lawyer, wrote on his X account that Mr. Nikbakht underwent surgery due to problems in his throat area and is currently recovering in a hospital in Tehran. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>