According to information obtained by IranWire, despite the expiration of her two-month temporary detention, judicial authorities in Fars Province and Adelabad Prison in Shiraz have prevented the release of Astareh (Maryam) Ansari, an attorney and member of the Fars Province Bar Association. They insist on continuing her detention under inhumane conditions, imposing restrictions that have put the lawyer’s health at serious risk.
The judge presiding over Astareh Ansari’s case is Seyyed Mahmoud Sadati, the same judge from the high-profile case of executed wrestler Navid Afkari, who is notoriously known as the “Executioner of Shiraz.” Another judicial official in Shiraz, notorious for misconduct and violence, is Deputy Prosecutor Zahra Ajdari Shirazi, who has blocked all bail requests for Astareh Ansari’s conditional release. According to IranWire’s sources, one of the primary bases for her arrest and the charges against her is her pro bono legal representation of individuals detained during the nationwide protests in January.
Astareh Ansari is a prominent lawyer in Shiraz. Before her arrest, alongside taking on cases that many other lawyers refused to touch, she was actively involved in humanitarian and philanthropic work. As one of her close associates recalled in an interview with IranWire: “From distributing food in impoverished areas to looking after homeless and vulnerable women and helping animals, Astareh took care of three dogs, and during her brief, heavily monitored phone calls from prison, she remains deeply worried about them. All of Astareh’s income went toward public charity work. She dedicated her life to this path.”
Born in 1980, Astareh Ansari has been practicing law since 2009. Following the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, she removed her headscarf on the steps of the Fars Bar Association and has refused to submit to the mandatory hijab ever since. During the Jina (Mahsa Amini) movement, she served as the defense attorney for many detained protesters, including Afghan citizens who faced execution threats. At that time, she was detained for twenty days and charged with “encouraging corruption and prostitution” and “disturbing public opinion.” Her case was eventually closed during a subsequent general amnesty for detainees. However, this reprieve lasted only a couple of years before she was threatened and arrested once again.
During the January protests, alongside offering free legal counsel to imprisoned protesters, Ansari signed a joint statement with 48 other defense attorneys warning of a “collapse of the rule of law” and the “violation of rights” of those detained during the nationwide unrest. These two actions have now been weaponized as the foundation of the state’s case against her.
According to information obtained by IranWire, for taking on the cases of the January detainees and signing that statement, Ansari has been charged with “assembly and collusion against national security” and “propaganda against the regime.”
Before her eventual arrest, while seeking to represent January protesters, Ansari had been threatened by Judge Ali Amiri of Branch 8 of the Shiraz Revolutionary Court.
A close associate of Astareh Ansari stated: “Astareh had accepted the case of one of the January detainees, but in Branch 8 of the Revolutionary Court, Judge Amiri told her: ‘If you set foot in here one more time and insist on representing them, you will be arrested.’ In the end, that is exactly what he did. Judge Amiri is also a notorious judge in Shiraz.”
Astareh Ansari Was Arrested and Interrogated with Beatings and Abuse
On May 4, five men and two women from the Ministry of Intelligence in Shiraz raided Astareh Ansari’s private residence, arresting her with violence and verbal abuse. Security agents subjected the lawyer to physical force during the raid. At the time, Bahar Sahraian, another legal professional, was also present at Ansari’s home; Sahraian was subsequently arrested as well.
According to IranWire, the violence directed at Astareh Ansari did not end with her arrest but continued during her interrogations at Shiraz’s Adelabad Prison: “During her interrogation, she was subjected to severe physical beatings and intense verbal abuse.”
The Lawyer Sleeping on Prison Floors Without Medication
The violence inflicted upon Astareh Ansari by security officials during her arrest and interrogation has been perpetuated by prison authorities through the conditions of her confinement.
According to information provided to IranWire, Astareh Ansari is being held in a ward designated for murder convicts, where two of the inmates hold “red cards” – a designation marking them as highly dangerous prisoners. Meanwhile, Bahar Sahraian is reportedly being held in the juvenile delinquency ward.
Ansari is forced to sleep on the floor in a room where there are only 30 beds for 50 inmates, meaning 20 prisoners must live and sleep on the ground with zero privacy. Ansari has been denied a pillow, a blanket, and even a basic mattress to sleep on.
Iranian Lawyer Jailed After Defending Protesters Faces Abuse in Prison
