Nazanin Salari
Nazanin Salari is a woman human rights defender, lawyer and former head of the Human Rights Commission at the Fars Bar Association in Shiraz, Iran. She has actively engaged in defending the rights of women and children via several capacity development workshops. Additionally, she has continued to represent protesters and advocate for the independence of the legal profession in Iran.
During the Woman, Life, Freedom protest movement, she aligned herself with collective efforts by lawyers to support detained protesters and to ensure access to legal representation and due process. In a principled stand, she resigned from her membership position at the Fars Bar Association Disciplinary Court, alongside other lawyers. This was in protest against the Bar Association’s failure to take meaningful action to defend the legal rights of protesters. Her work reflects a sustained commitment to professional accountability, solidarity within the legal community, and the protection of fundamental rights in Iran through peaceful and legitimate means.
Hope for political reform in Iran surfaced when President Hassan Rouhani assumed office in 2013 and dozens of opposition political figures and human rights defenders were released. However, violations of the rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly and movement of HRDs continue to be prevalent.
Human rights defenders and journalists are arrested, detained and prosecuted in unfair trials. HRDs continue to receive death threats and are subjected to harassment, arbitrary arrest and detention. They are refused bail or receive extreme bail conditions. HRDs are additionally subjected to systematic surveillance and their family members are targeted. Journalists have been subjected to flogging for criticising the government.
