Iran intensifies crackdown on lawyers and expands executions after 2025 protests

Iran has broadened a systematic campaign against independent legal professionals following the nationwide protests of 2025. Across cities including Tehran, Mashhad, Shiraz, Rasht, Tabriz, Ahvaz, Ilam, Jiroft and Yazd, dozens of lawyers have faced summonses, arrests, criminal prosecutions and professional sanctions. The repression is described as a structural policy aimed at limiting independent legal defence in political and security cases, weakening the Bar Association and restricting the right to choose counsel.

In parallel, Iranian courts have carried out multiple executions and handed down prison sentences for a range of offences such as drug trafficking, murder, national‑security charges and protest‑related allegations. Executions were reported in Adelabad, Shirvan, Dastgerd and Dizelabad prisons, affecting individuals from Borujerd, Shiraz, Rasht, Kermanshah and other provinces. Additional sentences included lengthy terms for alleged collusion against national security and a poet sentenced to electronic monitoring and a travel ban for her activism. Reports also mention the arrest of a Kurdish citizen on alleged collaboration with Israel and the killing of a Kurdish man by security forces.