Saleh Nikbakht, the lawyer of Jina-Mahsa Amini's family, was sentenced to the maximum punishment of "advertising against the system", equal to one year of imprisonment and the additional punishment of banning activities in the social media

On Tuesday, 17th of October 2023, Saleh Nikbakht, the lawyer of the case of Jina-Mahsa Amini, was sentenced to the maximum penalty of propaganda against the regime by Branch 28 of Tehran Islamic Revolutionary Court headed by Judge "Amouzad", regardless of his defense and his lawyer's, Ali Rezaei, attempts. He was sentenced to one year imprisonment and the additional punishment of "prohibition of any activity in social media for 2 years".

This verdict was handed to Saleh Nikbakht's lawyer and he made an announcement; "As I said earlier, the accusation of propaganda activity against the system has a clear legal definition and cannot be attributed to individuals until the elements of this crime are investigated and proven with legal evidence. I have read all the texts of Mr. Nikbakht's interviews word by word. Even though I represent him, as a lawyer, I emphasize that no sentence in his interviews expresses propaganda against the system. This conviction was issued due to illegal interpretations of the text of the interviews.

Mr. Nikbakht's lawyer, Ali Rezaei, announced during this announcement, a copy of which has been received by Kurdpa; "The court considered all 9 items of Mr. Nikbakht's interviews, cited by the Ministry of Intelligence in the case, in its ruling; 1- Investigating the situation of the Kolbars in Iran and their deaths, 2- The client's legal response to the drowning claims of Afghan immigrants, 3- Criticism of broadcasting the confessions of political (security) defendants on radio and television and the duties of authorities in preserving the lives of detainees on IranInternational Channel. An interview with BBC Persian about; 1- The open letter of lawyers and jurists, well-known journalists, and political activists condemning Turkey's military attack on northern Syria, 2- Examining the reasons for banning the issuance of motorcycle licenses for women in Iran, which he had declared to have no legal basis, 3- The description of the process of the release of a Syrian Kurdish prisoner in Iran and also his interview with RadioFarda regarding the condemnation of the Turkish army's attack on the Syrian Kurds, have been mentioned as the evidence of this accusation.

All the above topics and interviews took place in 2019 until September 2022. What is surprising is the emphasis of the plaintiff and the court on the client's objection to the theory of the forensic expert. According to the lawyer's legal duty, Mr. Nikbakht objected to the theory of the Forensic Science Commission as an expert theory and said that because the expert theory is only a way to ascertain the truth, it is not certain like any other expert theory.

He had requested that the investigation of Mahsa's death be brought up again in another commission, and since Mahsa's lawyers and family have no knowledge of medical issues, 5 of the 12 famous doctors of the country, nominated by Mahsa's family, attend the meeting of the second commission and raise the issue in the presence of these doctors so that if there is any question, it can be raised by these knowledgeable doctors. This is not a crime, nor has the client said anything else. Unfortunately, the Prosecutor's Office and the Revolutionary Court, regardless of the client's legal statements, considered his interview with Etemad newspaper about the explanation of the process of handling the death case of Mahsa Amini, as one of the evidence of assigning the crime of propaganda activity against the system."

On Monday, October 2nd, 2023, the second meeting of the case of Saleh Nikbakht, the lawyer of the family of Jina-Mahsa Amini, was held on the charge of "propaganda activity against the system" through interviews with foreign and domestic media, in Branch 28 of the Tehran Islamic Revolution Court, presided over by Judge Amozad.

Also, on September 20, 2022, the first meeting of this lawyer's case was held and his charges were explained to him.

On March 11, 2023, Saleh Nikbakht, the lawyer of the family of Jina-Mahsa Amini, was summoned to the 2nd Investigation Branch of the General and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office of the 33rd District (Moqadas) of Tehran and was charged with "propaganda against the system".

This lawyer was temporarily released by submitting a bail order until the court trial was finished.