Lawyers Face Global Persecution Worldwide

(SeaPRwire) –   In the early hours of April 1, 2026, agents from Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence took prominent human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh into custody. Her detention occurred during Iran’s ongoing conflict and as the Islamic Republic ramped up its crackdown on domestic critics. Sotoudeh—who has dedicated her career to representing political prisoners, human rights defenders, and women’s rights activists—now finds herself a political prisoner too.

This isn’t Sotoudeh’s first time behind bars. Since 2010, the 62-year-old attorney has been arrested multiple times and held in long-term solitary confinement. She once received a sentence of roughly 38 years in prison, 148 lashes, and a 20-year suspension from practicing law. Public outcry and her declining health resulted in her release and temporary furloughs.

Yet in a system where torture is widespread and executions are surging, the risks for Sotoudeh are greater than ever before. Her latest arrest isn’t just a loss of freedom—it could cost her her life.

Sotoudeh’s ordeals mirror those of countless lawyers in Iran and across the globe.

Lawyers worldwide are facing increasing attacks. Authoritarian leaders are misusing legal systems to target and prosecute their opponents, using an expanding array of fabricated charges and mock trials. When dissidents are locked up, journalists imprisoned, and free speech silenced, lawyers are often the final barrier to injustice. For this reason, lawyers have become targets themselves—shifted from being advocates to the accused, and from upholders of the constitution to labeled criminals.

Fighting authoritarianism often feels like a losing battle when relying on broken, corrupt justice systems to protect citizens. However, the bravery and resolve of lawyers who demand the law be applied fairly—even in corrupt, dictatorial regimes—serve as a potent form of resistance. By targeting lawyers, authoritarians expose their deep-seated fear that fair trials and the rule of law pose a threat to their hold on power.

As Czech dissident-turned-statesman Václav Havel noted in The Power of the Powerless: “Demanding that the laws be upheld is thus an act of living within the truth that threatens the whole mendacious structure at its point of maximum mendacity.” The hollow “ceremony” of the law is critical for a tyrant to maintain the illusion of fairness in an authoritarian state. By using this ceremony and insisting on the real implementation of these empty legal safeguards and processes, brave lawyers unmask despotic regimes for everyone to see.

Consider Russia, where Vladimir Putin has long employed the “ceremony of the law” to create the impression of a free and fair legal system—allowing lawyers to represent its most outspoken critics even when a just result is impossible. The takeover of Russia’s judiciary has been a deliberate, long-term process, leading to courts that often deliver nothing more than “telephone justice”: judges following orders from state officials who call in their desired verdict. But recently, the Kremlin has clamped down on lawyers handling these cases, resulting in the exile and arrest of some of Russia’s most skilled and brave attorneys.

The prosecution of Alexei Navalny’s former lawyers—Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser, and Igor Sergunin—shows the Kremlin’s ongoing push to erase authentic legal representation. These lawyers stood by Navalny until his death at a remote Arctic penal colony. They were arrested in October 2023 on baseless “extremism” charges. Following their detention, Navalny’s already harsh prison conditions deteriorated sharply, and his isolation from the outside world deepened until he was ultimately poisoned to death.

By going after lawyers, Putin eliminated one of his most high-profile political foes. Another of Putin’s pro-democracy opponents—opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza—saw his lawyer, Vadim Prokhorov, forced into exile under threat of prosecution after Kara-Murza’s mock trial. Other human rights lawyers in Russia have faced recent prosecution, including Maria Bontsler, a prominent attorney who represented people targeted with politically motivated charges. Bontsler has been in pre-trial detention since May 2025, and her health is worsening dangerously.

As international lawyers representing both dissidents and their persecuted legal advocates, we’ve witnessed this type of repression spread across borders. One of us was even the target of an assassination plot in Canada and believes he was poisoned in Russia for defending Iranian human rights lawyers and Russian dissidents.

Beneath these overt acts of aggression is a hidden trend: transnational repression spilling from authoritarian regimes into democracies, oppressing lawyers of all nationalities along the way.

Sadly, at this critical juncture for the legal profession, some countries that once stood for the rule of law are now actively undermining lawyers instead of protecting them. Attempts to intimidate, co-opt, or weaken judicial institutions are growing both more frequent and alarming in free societies. The examples of Iran and Russia should serve as a wake-up call about the consequences of this trend—and a call to action to defend the rule of law.

To safeguard the rule of law worldwide, we need to use tools like targeted Magnitsky sanctions—measures that not only identify and shame perpetrators but also impose tangible consequences, such as visa restrictions and asset freezes. We could also pursue complaints at the International Criminal Court for transnational repression occurring on member states’ territory. Strengthening international legal standards to protect lawyers is essential, making the recently launched Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer particularly timely and deserving of broad support.

To put an end to the growing attacks on lawyers, we must ensure that targeting them is more costly for authoritarians than it is beneficial.

We believe that when it comes to our freedoms and the future of our democracies, the price of doing nothing is far too steep.